Issue Brief: States Are Weakening Training Standards for Nursing Facility Aides
Justice in Aging (JIA) and The Center for Medicare Advocacy (CMA) have released an issue brief, "States Are Weakening Training Standards for Nursing Facility Aides, With No Response By CMS."
Federal nurse aide training standards in nursing facilities have been largely waived during the COVID-19 emergency. When the emergency declarations end, however, all “temporary nurse aides” are required by federal law to receive training and pass tests in order to be certified as permanent nurse aides. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has given states and nursing facilities leeway to retroactively count nurse aide work hours as training hours, and some states have exploited that leeway to weaken nurse aide training requirements for permanent certification.
JIA and the CMA have jointly authored an issue brief, which discusses the states that have weakened nurse aid training requirements. The brief recommends that CMS should require the comprehensive training required by the relevant regulations, and states should withdraw their procedures that have allowed work to be retroactively and perfunctorily classified as “training.”
To read the brief, click here.
To go to JIA's website, click here.
To go to CMA's website, click here.
