The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has faced rising pressure to end a pandemic-related temporary waiver of some nurse aide training requirements.
While consumer groups have claimed that the lack of training has put employees and residents at risk, providers have called the waiver a vital solution to staff shortages,
“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 of LeadingAge Pennsylvania.
The 2020 waiver says new aides cannot work longer than four months without becoming certified. CMS said in a statement that it shared 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.
From the January/February 2022 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
