Nursing homes hope to see staffing mandates gone, need major system changes and funding to operate

Oklahoma Senator James Lankford wants to change staffing requirements at nursing homes that accept Medicare or Medicaid. 

The staffing requirements were put in place to keep people safe, but the people who run nursing homes said it will be nearly impossible to meet the new staffing requirements because it's a struggle to hire people.

Senator Lankford and the owners of long-term care facilities say the rule is overreaching and could make it really tough for homes in rural areas. 

Care facilities said they've lost nearly 350,000 employees across the country since COVID and the changes have to be system-wide and include funding, not just with forced mandates. 

What are the biggest issues for long term care facilities? 

Helena Manganya is the head of nursing at Franciscan Villa nursing home and said she loves caring for elderly adults, but hiring people is tough and getting tougher.

She said it's hard to get people to even fill out applications, and when they do get an interview, to show up for the interview, then to even show up to work. 

What do care facilities think about staffing mandates?

Kimberly Green with the Diakonos Group, which owns care facilities all over Oklahoma, said care facilities don't have enough money to handle federal mandates, even though they would love to have more staff. 

“It's not that we're against having more staff, we would love to have more staff,” she said. "But you can't put the cart in front of the horse. We have to have solutions. Help us with funding, help us with recruiting, help us with getting careers ladders to bring people in the door and move up through the systems.”

What do nurses think?

Anna Ray is a nurse who used to work in nursing homes and says all of them were understaffed, which isn’t safe for the people who live there or work there. 

She would often do the job of two or three people, and said companies need to stop putting profits over the people who are the most vulnerable.

“This is their home, where they are spending their last days," Ray said. "You want to know, not only are the basic cares being met, but that they're not anxious and fearful.”

What's next? 

Green said the homes they operate are funded mainly by Medicare and Medicaid, and they barely have enough money to stay afloat, and it’s even worse in rural areas.

She said the changes have to come with funding, and soon, because we have the largest geriatric population in history, and it will only get bigger.