S 750
Protecting Rural Seniors’ Access to Care Act
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Bill overview
This bill, the Protecting Rural Seniors’ Access to Care Act, aims to prevent the implementation and enforcement of a new rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services regarding minimum staffing standards for nursing facilities. It also establishes an Advisory Panel on the Nursing Home Workforce to examine workforce shortages and barriers to access in rural and underserved areas. The panel will report annually to Congress on these issues and recommend ways to strengthen the nursing home workforce.
Key provisions
- Prohibits the implementation and enforcement of the CMS minimum staffing rule.
- Establishes an Advisory Panel on the Nursing Home Workforce.
- Requires the Panel to include representatives from various healthcare professions and geographic areas, with a focus on rural representation.
- Mandates regular meetings and public access to Panel proceedings.
- Directs the Panel to submit annual reports to Congress and the public.
- Requires the initial report to assess workforce shortages and barriers to access in rural and underserved areas.
- Instructs the Panel to analyze regulations and guidance impacting the nursing home workforce.
- Asks the Panel to recommend strategies to reduce regulatory burdens and invest in workforce training.
Who is affected
- Nursing home residents
- Nursing home staff (nurses, aides, etc.)
- Rural communities
- Skilled nursing facilities
- State Medicaid programs
Sponsors
Official sponsors from legislative records.
Primary sponsor
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119th CONGRESS — 1st Session
S. 750
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
A BILL
To prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from implementing, enforcing, or otherwise giving effect to a final rule regarding minimum staffing for nursing facilities, and to establish an advisory panel on the nursing home workforce.
This Act may be cited as the Protecting Rural Seniors’ Access to Care Act
.
Beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services may not implement, enforce, or otherwise give effect to the final rule entitled Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities and Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency Reporting
published by the Department of Health and Human Services on May 10, 2024 (89 Fed. Reg. 40976–41000), and may not promulgate any substantially similar rule.
Secretary) shall establish the Advisory Panel on the Nursing Home Workforce (in this section referred to as the
Panel).
1 representative of the Secretary, who shall serve as the chair of the Panel.
2 registered nurses who actively furnish services in a skilled nursing facility or nursing facility, one of whom shall represent a rural area.
2 physicians who actively furnish services in a skilled nursing facility or nursing facility, one of whom shall represent a rural area.
1 representative of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
1 representative of the Health Resources and Services Administration.
2 individuals with professional expertise related to the nursing home workforce, one of whom shall have experience with respect to the nursing home workforce in rural and underserved areas.
1 licensed administrator or representative of a rural not-for-profit skilled nursing facility.
1 licensed administrator or representative of a rural for-profit skilled nursing facility.
2 representatives of State boards of nursing.
Each of the appointments under paragraph (1) shall be made not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this section.
Each member shall be appointed for a term not to exceed 2 years, and a vacancy in the Panel shall be filled in the manner in which the original appointment was made.
13 members of the Panel shall constitute a quorum.
The Panel shall make available on a public website of the Department of Health and Human Services—
real-time virtual access to each meeting of the Panel; and
not later than 30 days after each such meeting, a recording and transcript of the meeting.
workforce shortages; and
an analysis of regulations, sub-regulatory guidance, and guidance to State survey agencies issued by the Secretary with respect to skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities, and the effects of such regulations and guidance on the nursing home workforce;
recommendations for the Secretary to strengthen the nursing home workforce, including recommendations for decreasing regulatory burdens for skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities and making financial investments in training for health professionals; and
other information as the Panel determines necessary.
In this section, the following definitions apply:
The term rural area means any area outside a metropolitan statistical area.
The term skilled nursing facility has the meaning given such term in section 1819(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i–3(a)).