The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living is praising a reintroduced bill that would address certified nursing assistant shortages.
The Ensuring Seniors’ Access to Quality Care Act, introduced by Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., would allow nursing homes to resume in-house CNA education programs, and give Medicare and Medicaid providers access to the National Practitioner Data Bank to conduct background checks.
“We commend Sens. Warner and Scott for reintroducing this important legislation to directly address and support the growth of the long term care workforce,” Clif Porter II, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL, said in a May 1 news release shared with Becker’s. “With an aging population, we need solutions like the Ensuring Seniors’ Access to Quality Care Act to help the caregivers of tomorrow answer the call to care. This bill will support nursing homes in their efforts to train crucially needed direct caregivers and vet their workforce, working to ensure that our nation’s seniors receive high quality care delivered by highly skilled and dedicated professionals.”
About 46% of all nurse aides complete their training through the facility-based Nurse Aide Training Competency Evaluation Program; however, only 1 in 5 nursing homes operated one of these programs in 2024. Federal statutes are the current barrier to expanding these education programs, due to certain fines that can trigger a two-year program suspension, even if the issue is unrelated to the training program or quality of care, the release said.
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