Unsafe Staffing Affects Quality of Care

The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care was formed as NCCNHR (National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform) in 1975 because of public concern about substandard care in nursing homes. The abuse and neglect remain because of unsafe staffing levels.

Inadequate Staffing in Nursing Homes and How It Affects Residents

Chronic understaffing has been a serious problem in nursing homes for decades. The lack of safe minimum staffing standards is a key factor.  Minimum standards ensure that staffing will not fall to a level that would be harmful to residents.

Consumer Voice has continued to focus on staffing in nursing homes as an advocacy priority. The Consumer Voice has great resources.

Report: High Staff Turnover: A Job Quality Crisis in Nursing Homes – The report sheds light on how nursing homes with higher staff turnover perform poorly in a variety of measures. It examines how staff turnover harms residents, the causes of high turnover, and offers solutions to this endemic problem.

Last Spring, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) that included requests for information regarding the implementation of a minimum staffing standard in nursing homes. Consumer Voice submitted comments to CMS strongly supporting the proposal for a minimum staffing standard.  CMS stated it planned to propose a minimum staffing standard within one year.

Report: Staffing Matters – Our report looked at federal data regarding nursing home staffing levels and how it affects outcomes for residents. It found that nursing homes with higher staffing levels have higher overall, health inspection, and staffing ratings. Plus, the data also revealed that as staffing levels decrease in nursing homes, the instances of resident abuse rise.

Learn more about our work around staffing in nursing homes on our website.