We are disappointed and concerned that nursing home operators and their trade associations continue to spend their resources fighting commonsense resident protections rather than investing in improving care at their facilities.

Nursing home residents deserve high-quality care, provided by staff who have the time needed to spend with every resident. Taxpayers and consumers have the right to demand that the money spent on care is used for care.

These expectations are neither arbitrary nor infeasible. They are, in fact, the minimum we should expect for the elderly and frail who receive care, and the dedicated staff who work hard every day providing their residents with care and comfort. 

Instead of fighting these laws, providers should focus on providing good jobs and high-quality care. If they do, they will meet the new standards. 

Fact versus fiction 

Prior to the law’s passage, New York was one of a handful of states without a minimum staffing requirement. Far from arbitrary, requiring a minimum amount of daily care is a standard required in many states, including  Massachusetts (3.5), Illinois (3.4), Florida (3.6), District of  Columbia (3.5), Delaware (3.6) and California (3.5).  

The complaint calls the new law “inflexible staffing ratios.” However, the  New York requirement is neither a ratio nor inflexible. The law says that, on  average, each resident must receive 3.5 hours of care from RNs, LPNs, and  CNAs with 2.2 of these hours provided by CNAs, and 1.1 from licensed staff. The law is intended to give providers flexibility by making the requirement an average for all the residents, to allow additional care to more-acute residents and less to more-independent residents. Additionally, providers can meet the standard by providing additional care from CNAs or licensed staff, depending on resident needs. 

The complaint states that ordering nursing homes to [hire] more people to work is a “futile exercise” when candidates for existing openings “cannot be  found.” The law does not order homes to bring in more workers. Employers can increase the hours of care by encouraging part-time workers to convert to full-time, incentivizing overtime, providing weekend incentives, using agency staff if needed, slowing down new admissions, and they can do a better job keeping the staff they hire. 

It’s about staff turnover, not shortages. The turnover rate for New York nursing homes is over 40 percent per year. 1199SEIU members report that most employers can’t keep the vast majority of newly hired staff because the work is too difficult, wages and benefits are inadequate, and employers don’t do a good enough job onboarding new staff. Additionally, most providers are not reporting staff shortages. Nursing homes weekly report to CMS information on staff shortages. For the week of May 1, only 25 percent of New York providers indicated they were experiencing a shortage of nurse aides. This is one month after the law went into effect.  

The lawsuit also attempts to block the new spending requirement that facilities dedicate the majority of their revenue to providing care. Again, far from arbitrary, the new law is similar to requirements recently enacted in New Jersey and Massachusetts.  

Most nursing homes already meet the standards. Of the 75 facilities included in the suit, only 16 report they would need to shift some spending towards direct care to meet the standard. Far from infeasible, the suit demonstrates the ease of meeting the standard. 

For more information, visit https://www.nursinghomestaffingaccountability.com.

Helen Schaub is the vice president, interim political director for 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. It is the largest healthcare union in America, and represents over 450,000 nurses and caregivers throughout six states, including New York. Learn more at 1199seiu.org.