News Article

National Academies' Report Supports Historic Biden Administration Nursing Home Reforms

April 12, 2022

A report released on April 6, 2022 by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) includes recommendations that strongly support the Biden Administration's historic nursing home reforms announced on February 28, 2022. Consumer Voice is pleased that the report, "The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality: Honoring Our Commitment to Residents, Families, and Staff,” calls for minimum staffing standards, heightened enforcement and oversight, increased transparency and accountability of finances, operations, and ownership, and support for nursing home workers.  

The report brings attention to long-standing problems that have plagued nursing homes for decades and resulted in the catastrophic impact of COVID-19 on nursing home residents, such as inadequate staffing, failures in oversight and regulation, poor infection control, and deficiencies that result in resident harm.  The report’s authors, the Committee on the Quality of Care in Nursing Homes, write  "that immediate action is necessary to initiate fundamental change,"  and that "the way in which the United States finances, delivers, and regulates care in nursing home settings is ineffective, inefficient, fragmented, and unsustainable."   

Consumer Voice applauds the Committee for recognizing the many shortcomings in the current system and for  proposing specific actions to ensure that residents receive the high quality,  person-centered care that they deserve.

Stay tuned for a detailed summary of the report from Consumer Voice.