HR1303-119

What This Bill Does

The Protecting America's Seniors' Access to Care Act blocks a specific CMS final rule: Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities and Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency Reporting, published May 10, 2024. Beginning on enactment, the Secretary of Health and Human Services may not implement, administer, or enforce that rule or any substantially similar regulation. The blocked rule set minimum staffing standards for long-term care facilities and Medicaid institutional payment transparency reporting. The bill therefore relieves nursing homes from the federal staffing mandate and reporting rule, while removing protections that supporters say would improve resident care and workforce levels.

Who Benefits and How

Nursing home operators benefit because HHS cannot enforce the 2024 federal minimum staffing rule or a substantially similar regulation. Long-term care facilities in workforce-shortage areas benefit if they avoid staffing mandates they say are hard to meet. State Medicaid agencies benefit from avoiding federal institutional payment transparency implementation tied to the blocked rule. Nursing home trade associations benefit from a statutory rollback of a major CMS regulation.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Nursing home residents may bear risk if minimum staffing standards that could improve care are blocked. Nursing home workers may lose leverage for higher staffing levels and better staffing ratios. HHS and CMS lose authority to implement, administer, or enforce the named rule or similar rules. Long-term care accountability advocates bear the burden of losing federal payment transparency and staffing standards.

Key Provisions

• Prohibits HHS from implementing CMS's May 10, 2024 nursing home minimum staffing rule.
• Blocks administration and enforcement of the Medicaid institutional payment transparency portions of the rule.
• Bars any substantially similar regulation after enactment.
• Rolls back federal long-term care staffing and transparency requirements rather than revising them.