Publications

Legislative Update

Nursing Home Staffing Bill to be Introduced

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) will reintroduce legislation that would establish staffing standards in skilled-nursing facilities. The legislation would require nursing homes to provide a minimum of 4.1 hours of care each day for nursing home patients. At least 1.15 hours of this care would have to be provided by either LPNs (LVNs) or RNs and another .55 hours would have to be provided by RNs. The balance of care would be provided by certified nursing assistants. The requirements in the bill mirror recommendations made by a comprehensive study of nursing home staffing released by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2002. That study found that nine in ten nursing homes are inadequately staffed. Despite the widespread prevalence of inadequate care, the Bush administration opposes staffing standards.

Senate Panel Moves Bill To Promote Development Of Drugs and Vaccines

In October, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) approved legislation (S. 1873) to encourage the development of vaccines, medications and other "countermeasures" to respond to a terrorist attack and to fight pandemic flu. The legislation provides for unprecedented legal immunity for manufacturers of countermeasures should their products cause harm to recipients. The bill mandates that an alternative compensation program be established to provide assistance to first responders and health-care workers who become injured and need compensation for health-care costs and lost wages. However, as drafted the compensation program would not provide assistance to workers hurt by a vaccine or medication developed to address an illness that is already occurring in the human population. For example, the compensation program would not be available for injury due to an avian flu or anthrax vaccines. The compensation program is limited to first responders and health-care workers, and is not available to anyone else receiving a countermeasure.

HELP Committee Democrats, led by Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT), have blocked the bill from going to the Senate floor to force changes in the compensation program and other deficiencies in the bill. However, GOP leaders have been unwilling to make changes to the legislation and may try to attach the bill as-is to another must-pass bill before the session ends this year.

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