LeadingAge Stands Up for Members in Response to White House Nursing Home Reform Statement

Since the release of the White House statement on improving safety and quality of care in the nation’s nursing homes, LeadingAge has been working behind the scenes and in public to stand up for our nonprofit and mission-driven nursing home members.

Advocacy in Washington, D.C. 
Like anyone who cares about America’s older adults, LeadingAge is gratified that the Biden Administration is prioritizing long-term care—and our policy experts are moving quickly to ensure that your needs and perspective are part of discussions in Washington, D.C.

Still, we were incredibly disheartened that the White House chose to wrongly paint all nursing homes with the same negative brush in its rhetoric. We know, as you do, that many nursing homes, including the thousands of communities within LeadingAge’s membership, are bastions of quality care and quality of life. Throughout the pandemic and even before, you have continued to serve older adults and families despite this country’s indifference towards and outdated approach to long-term care. 

The Administration should acknowledge the deep commitment to care and quality demonstrated every day by so many nursing homes across the country—and we have sent a letter to President Biden and members of his Administration to share both our disappointment on your behalf, and a roadmap for next steps we can take together. 

In the letter, we outlined three immediate ways the Administration can best support millions of residents, family members, and frontline staff in nursing homes across the country: 1) address the dire staffing crisis, 2) take an evidence-based approach to quality improvement, and 3) fund quality care. 

We need a broad, multi-departmental strategy to increase staffing levels and transparency. We need to compensate frontline professionals fairly and address price gouging by temporary staffing agencies. We need ways to expand the pipeline of direct care professionals, including changes in immigration. We need to separate out the high-performing, high-quality providers from those that should be closed. We need to reward the best providers who continuously improve quality of care, as so many LeadingAge member nursing homes have despite the many challenges wrought by the COVID pandemic and long-standing system inadequacies.

Not all nursing homes are the same; and we’re fighting hard to ensure that the Administration understands that nonprofit and mission-driven nursing homes operate with financial transparency and open communication. As we said in our letter to the President: “It’s long past time for a clear-eyed, fact-based approach to ensure older Americans and families can access the quality nursing home care they deserve.”

Nonprofit and mission-driven nursing homes like yours must be at the table for the urgent and necessary discussions in coming weeks and months. LeadingAge requested an initial meeting with the White House to begin those conversations. 

Media Outreach and Public Communications 
LeadingAge is also pursuing action with the media and the public. President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan has already issued two statements on the White House announcement and State of the Union. You’ve probably seen some of the coverage in the trades (Skilled Nursing News, ‘Stop Blaming Nursing Homes’: Biden’s Proposed Reforms Garner Mixed Reactions ; McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, Providers decry major ‘crack down’ without major funding) and national press (Associated Press, Biden to launch ambitious overhaul of nursing home quality; The New York Times, Biden will lay out new nursing home protections in his State of the Union speech).

In addition, LeadingAge released a statement to coincide with our letter to the Administration, and are reaching out to key media outlets to be sure your voice is heard.

Supporting Your Community
While most Americans don’t follow the day-to-day of national politics, many of your residents and families may have heard some of the recent rhetoric about “cracking down” on nursing homes. We want everyone who is part of a LeadingAge member community to know that their nursing home and the thousands of others that are part of LeadingAge have no tolerance for bad care. Katie penned a letter to your residents and family, which we invite you to distribute as you think best.

All of us at LeadingAge are proud to represent nursing home providers like you. Thank you for everything you do each and every day.