HR7096-119

What This Bill Does

The Ensuring Seniors' Access to Quality Care Act amends the Medicare skilled nursing facility and Medicaid nursing facility nurse aide training approval rules in Social Security Act sections 1819 and 1919. Current law can bar approval of a facility's nurse aide training and competency evaluation program after certain enforcement actions. The bill rewrites the disqualification trigger so a facility is barred based on a civil money penalty only when the penalty is at least $12,924 and the facility was cited for a deficiency relating to quality of care provided to residents. It also preserves disqualification when the facility was subject to specified remedies, including temporary management, denial of payment, termination, or related enforcement remedies cross-referenced in Medicare and Medicaid law. The practical effect is to let more facilities operate training programs after lower-level penalties that are not tied to quality-of-care deficiencies.

Who Benefits and How

Skilled nursing facilities, Medicaid nursing facilities, nurse aide trainees, nursing home workforce programs, long-term care residents facing staffing shortages, and facility operators benefit because more facilities may remain eligible to run nurse aide training programs after less serious enforcement history. State survey agencies and CMS benefit from a more specific threshold that distinguishes quality-of-care penalties from other citations.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Residents and family advocates may face risk if facilities with some enforcement history continue training aides. CMS staff, state survey agencies, nursing facility compliance officers, and training program administrators must apply the new $12,924 threshold, determine whether a cited deficiency relates to resident quality of care, track specified remedies, and update approval decisions for Medicare and Medicaid nurse aide training programs.

Key Provisions

• Amends Medicare skilled nursing facility nurse aide training approval rules.
• Amends Medicaid nursing facility nurse aide training approval rules.
• Requires civil-money-penalty disqualification to involve at least $12,924 plus a quality-of-care deficiency.
• Preserves disqualification for specified enforcement remedies such as temporary management, denial of payment, or termination-related remedies.
• Removes the broader cross-reference that disqualified facilities based on lower or unrelated penalties.