Ricketts: CMS Nurse Staffing Rule Would “Limit Access to Critical Care for Seniors”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) condemned a rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) mandating burdensome new minimum staffing standards for long-term care facilities. The rule would exacerbate the current historic staffing shortages in rural care facilities, pushing many to close. Ricketts made the comments while on a conference call with Nebraska media.

“Look, we all want to make sure our seniors have the best standard of care. But this one-size-fits-all mandate actually does the opposite of that,” Ricketts said. “Instead of helping Nebraska seniors, this rule would cause closures of numerous facilities across our state. It would limit access to critical care for Nebraska seniors. That’s wrong.”

“As a member of the Special Committee on Aging, I will do everything in my power to stop this burdensome federal rule from going into place and closing our long-term care facilities,” Ricketts continued. “That’s why I’m co-leading Senator Fischer’s Protecting Rural Seniors’ Access to Care Act, which would rollback this rule. I also support Congressional Review Act legislation to block it.”