U.S. nursing home industry wants Trump to rescind staffing mandate: NYT

NEW YORK, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- With President-elect Donald Trump returning to the White House, the U.S. nursing home industry is ramping up pressure to kill a government-set mandate that they employ a minimum number of nurses before it takes effect to leave thousands of residents in homes too short-staffed to provide proper care, reported The New York Times (NYT) on Friday.

COVID-19's rampage killed over 172,000 nursing home residents. Then came the staffing regulation in April that requires nursing homes to have registered nurses on site around the clock -- something that the industry has endorsed -- and to maintain minimum numbers of nurses and aides. Four of five homes would have to increase staffing. The requirements would be phased in, starting in May 2026.

The nursing home industry has been marshaling opposition for months to overrule the Joe Biden administration's mandate. Two industry groups, the American Health Care Association and LeadingAge, have sued to overturn the regulation, and 20 Republican state attorneys general have filed their own challenge, according to the report.

Consumer advocates, industry officials and independent researchers agree that the incoming administration is likely to rescind the rule, given the first Trump administration's "patients over paperwork" campaign to remove "unnecessary, obsolete, or excessively burdensome health regulations on hospitals and other healthcare providers."

Even before the election, many experts and activists had doubts that the rule would be effectively enforced, given the poor results in states that have imposed their own minimums. "Staffing is everything in terms of nursing-home quality," noted the report.