A court ruling striking down a federal nursing home staffing mandate brought a sigh of relief from nursing home operators even as the industry still faces financial uncertainty.
An end to the mandate could bring stability to nursing home budgets and valuations. However, some nursing homes still face challenges, such as tougher state staffing minimums, as well as the threat of potential Medicaid rate cuts.
A federal judge in Texas on Monday tossed the controversial nursing home mandate the Biden administration rolled out last year that required nursing homes to have a registered nurse onsite 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The court also blocked a requirement that nursing homes provide at least 3.48 hours of care per resident, per day.
Nursing home operators said ending the mandate will allow them to direct their money to parts of their organizations other than staffing costs.
Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society is hoping to invest more in technology, President and CEO Nate Schema said. The nonprofit is a unit of Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Sanford Health and operates nearly 100 nursing homes across seven states.
Good Samaritan Society has facilities in many rural communities where it is difficult to recruit and retain nurses, so Schema said the nonprofit has been deploying telehealth to support them. He said without the mandate, the organization can continue that strategy or even expand it.
“The virtual care strategy is one significant thing that we have done,” Schema said. “We need to evolve as a sector and I think that is where technology comes in.”
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