WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), representing more than 14,000 nursing homes and long term care facilities across the country that provide care to approximately five million people each year, issued the following statement following the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce's passage of the Building America's Health Care Workforce Act (H.R. 9067), Ensuring Seniors' Access to Quality Care Act (H.R. 3227) and the Congressional Review Act (H.J.Res.139) yesterday.
“We applaud Chairwoman McMorris Rodgers and members of the committee for their commitment to passing real solutions that will help long term care facilities build a strong labor force,"
said Clif Porter, AHCA/NCAL's senior vice president of government relations and incoming president & CEO. “H.R. 9067 and H.R. 3227 specifically will enable the long term care sector to cultivate our certified nursing assistant (CNA) workforce. CNAs are an integral part of nursing home staff, and these bills will create a more viable path to train and develop these crucial caregivers."
Porter also applauded the committee for passing the Congressional Review Act resolution (H.J.Res.139) to overturn the Administration's one-size-fits-all staffing mandate. The Administration's more punitive approach will result in more nursing homes being forced to downsize or close their doors, potentially displacing more than
290,000 residents.
“The vote to overturn the staffing mandate underscores the flawed approach taken by the Administration to demand more staff without any substantive support and in the midst of a growing caregiver shortage,"
continued Porter. “We urge Congress to advance these bills, and we look forward to working with lawmakers to pass additional supportive measures that will strengthen the long term care workforce and safeguard seniors' access to quality care."
The Energy and Commerce Committee also passed an amended version of H.R. 7623, the Telehealth Modernization Act of 2024, which would extend telehealth flexibilities that were available during the COVID-19 pandemic for an additional two years. For long term care residents, these telehealth flexibilities streamline access to care without the stress, cost, and time of having to leave their facility. This enables more consistent care and helps prevent complications and unnecessary hospitalizations.
Read more about the bills:
- Building America's Health Care Workforce Act (H.R. 9067): This bill, introduced by U.S. Representatives Brett Guthrie (R-KY), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), and David B. McKinley (R-WV), would give assistant nurse aides working in nursing homes 24 months to become CNAs, instead of the current four months. The bill recognizes that many states are dealing with CNA training and testing backlogs. The legislation would also allow assistant nurse aides to apply their on-the-job experience and training toward the 75-hour federal training requirement to become a CNA.
- Ensuring Seniors' Access to Quality Care Act (H.R. 3227): Introduced by U.S. Representatives Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Ron Estes (R-KS), the bill allows nursing facilities that have been required to terminate their in-house CNA education programs to resume those programs once deficiencies are corrected. This bill also gives providers access to the National Practitioner Data Bank to conduct background checks and help identify the best candidates for open positions.
- Congressional Review Act (H.J.Res.139): Introduced by U.S. Representatives Michelle Fischbach (R-MN) and Greg Pence (R-ID) the resolution would overturn the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' minimum staffing requirement for nursing homes.
- The Telehealth Modernization Act of 2024 (H.R. 7623): This bill, introduced by U.S. Representatives Buddy Carter (R-GA), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Gregory Steube (R-FL), Terri Sewell (D-AL), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Jefferson Van Drew (R-NJ), and Joseph Morelle (D-NY), as amended in yesterday’s markup, would extend certain flexibilities that were authorized during the COVID-19 public health emergency through the end of 2026. For example, the legislation would continue to permit physical and occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists to furnish telehealth services and continues to suspend geographic telehealth and other restrictions during the extension.