News Article

Consumer Voice Meets with Office of Management and Budget Regarding the Proposed Nursing Home Rules

December 18, 2018

Last week, Consumer Voice, along with representatives from 11 other groups, met with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regarding the proposed nursing home rules to be issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  Although the proposed regulations have not been released,  individuals and groups can meet with OMB to discuss their views on what they believe the rules will contain. At the recent meeting, advocates asserted that the regulations needed to be retained as issued in October 2016 because they provide important protections to residents. They argued that revision of the requirements in order to reduce provider burden was both unnecessary and harmful, and provided numerous examples of how modifying or eliminating provisions would undermine the health and safety of residents. It is still not known when the proposed rule will be published. Below, access some of the materials provided to OMB during the meeting.

• Consumer Voice letter to the Acting Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and Administrator of CMS opposing efforts to revise the nursing home requirements of participation and delaying their implementation (November 2017)

• AARP letter to the Director of the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality and CMS Chief Medical Officer expressing concerns over recent reports of dangerous conditions in nursing homes (June 2018)

• Story of Connie B. which illustrates the importance of implementing and enforcing the 2016 CMS regulations to improve care and supervision at Skilled Nursing Facilities

• Protections, Not Burdens chart with examples of regulations considered burdensome by nursing home providers that provide important protections for residents

• Long Term Care Community Coalition brief - Infection Control & Prevention Standards are Essential for U.S. Nursing Home Residents

• Relevant articles from the media:

  • She modeled in New York and worked for the Navy. At 93, parasites ate her alive at a nursing home. May 2018, Washington Post

  • Overdoses, bedsores, broken bones: What happened when a private-equity firm sought to care for society’s most vulnerable, November 2018, Washington Post

  • In Illinois’ understaffed nursing homes, deadly infections persist from bedsores and common injuries that go untreated, September 2018, Chicago Tribune

  • As Out-of-Town Investors Buy WNY Nursing Homes, Residents Pay the Price, October 2018, Buffalo News