SNFs Struggle With Federal Regulations and Surveyors

The recent mandate for nursing home staff to be vaccinated has left many operators feeling frustrated. The mandate applies to only long-term care facilities. Leaders in the skilled nursing industry feel they are being unfairly targeted as the mandate should apply to all health care providers. Skilled Nursing News reports nursing home operators feel “regulated and scrutinized.”

Leaders in the industry feel this mandate will further exasperate staffing shortages nursing homes have been struggling with since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, nursing home operators feel they are now being unfairly regulated by the federal government. Earlier in the pandemic, surveyors were understanding and lenient with citations. However, now they are tightly regulating nursing homes and staff. Andi Clark, chief nursing officer for Consulate Health Care, stated “I think the way they look at regulating us during this time, we understand it needs to be strict, we all want our nurses washing hands, but I think that it is still a hostile situation. I don’t think they’ve appreciated what our team has done.”

Nursing homes have also been carefully trying to follow different regulations coming from different agencies including the Centers for Disease Control, health care, and county health care partners.

Clark wishes the relationship surveyors have with nursing homes were more productive and accommodating as they were during the pandemic instead of hostile and unfair as they have now become again.

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