Image of male nurse pushing senior woman in a wheelchair in nursing facility

Two dozen senators made what amounted to a last-ditch effort to get implementation of Phase 2 of the Requirements of Participation delayed in late November.

It did not appear at press time that their letter, which was sent to Acting Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Eric Hargan and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, would budge the Nov. 28 implementation date. More than 100 House members had sent a similar letter earlier.

The senators requested a one-year delay of the rule’s “overly burdensome provisions,” which would allow health officials more time to work with providers on possible revisions. It could also be a reprieve from the estimated $62,900 the regulations would cost each facility in the first year.

Officials announced in summer that transgressions would be cited but not penalized the first year.