Safe Staffing Rule

The Des Moines Register had a great article on the Biden’s Administration finalized rule that requires nursing homes to have a minimum number of staff members on duty at all times. Nursing home advocates see this rule as necessary, achievable, and long overdue. Over 50% of nursing home facilities in Iowa and throughout America already meet these requirements.

The implementation of this new rule will prevent abuse and neglect and allow residents at nursing home facilities to be better served with a higher quality of care and life. Those who oppose this new rule have ignored decades of research, which shows that residents in nursing homes have a stronger life when there are more staff members caring for them.  With more staff, residents stay safer and healthier than when there is less.

The article states:

“Ignoring those facts is proof of what many have come to believe about far too many in the industry: caring for your loved ones is their business, not their concern.”

For years, the nursing home industry has allowed friends, family members, and loved ones to be treated unfairly and be subject to many forms of abuse and
neglect.

Estimated, about $100 billion in tax dollars are sent to nursing homes in the nation every year. The problem with this is that the money is being used for the wrong things. Millions are spent on turnover to pay the fees for temporary agencies to cover for the staff who have left. Millions are also being spent on excessive salaries for the executives and lobbyists in the industry for stock and profit for investors.

The new staffing rule is a bare minimum standard that facilities can meet and should exceed. We see staffing rules in childcare centers and airlines, and because of these rules, the people they serve are safe and well protected. Nursing home residents do not deserve any less.