Consumer advocates are putting the heat on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to end a temporary waiver on nurse aide training implemented during the public health crisis. Providers say it has been a key solution during the ongoing workforce crisis.
“We have a number of hospitals that are backing up and are having difficulty finding places to discharge residents, and the temporary nursing assistance has been a tremendous help to be able to hire and do on-the-job training,” said Anne Henry, senior vice president and chief government affairs officer for LeadingAge Pennsylvania.
CMS has been pressured in recent weeks to end its waiver of the nurse-aide training requirement, according to a report by Bloomberg News. The rule says that new aides cannot work longer than four months without becoming certified. It was waived by CMS in April 2020. The waiver immediately helped provide more direct-care workers during the early pandemic months.
Opponents of the waiver, however, have argued the lack of training could put nursing assistants at a higher risk for getting injured on the job. A CMS spokesperson told Bloomberg in a statement that it shares the advocates’ concerns and would “end waivers as soon as possible, when they are no longer necessary to ensure that sufficient healthcare items and services are available to meet the needs” of federal health program beneficiaries, according to the report.
Henry said providers are hoping the waiver is extended beyond the public health crisis.
“We have so many issues around nursing assistant training: finding trainers, finding sites that are willing to be training sites. So, to allow these temporary nurse aides has been a tremendous help during this workforce crisis,” Henry told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News on Friday.
“I think it’s a tremendous program. I know a lot of members have availed themselves over that program and we actually think that it’s been extremely helpful to do that on-the-job training as opposed to some of the other training that was more classroom-oriented,” she added. “This way you’re actually there with the residents, hands-on.”
