Nursing homes say safe staffing bill will hurt them Resident advocates say it didn t go far enough wbfo.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wbfo.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Tom Dinki | WBFO wbfo.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wbfo.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
There were a record 9.3 million job openings across the U.S. in April, the highest since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking the data in 2001.
Randy Gerlach is president and CEO of Schofield Care, which operates a 120-bed nursing home in Kenmore.
The Schofield Residence is rated four stars by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, meaning it’s considered above average. Yet it doesn’t quite meet the new safe staffing bill’s mandate of 3.5 care hours per resident per day.
“Are they working smarter, not harder? And if they are, why are we going to penalize them, to add cost when they re already doing a very good job?” Gerlach said.
Like nursing home operators, advocates for nursing home residents also worry the bill won’t actually improve care, but for much different reasons. They say 3.5 hours isn’t enough.