AARP Pushes Back on Effort to Delay New Federal Nursing Home Staffing Standards to 2035

A plan to delay long-overdue minimum nursing home standards would cost lives and delay important protections needed for people living in nursing homes.

In a May 13 letter to the U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce, AARP noted deep concerns about a proposed delay to these standards, which would require an increase in staff at nursing homes and the presence of a registered nurse on-site at all times. The standards are set to take effect in stages starting in 2026, but this plan would delay them until 2035. Republican lawmakers are seeking cuts across federal programs to offset President Trump’s massive tax bill, which would extend and add to tax breaks. 

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AARP fought for the nursing home staffing standards and we estimate that the new standards would save nearly 13,000 lives each year.

In the May 13 letter, AARP wrote that every nursing home should be required to meet the bare minimum standards needed to provide safe, dignified care. "Delaying these long-overdue protections for people in nursing homes will perpetuate unsafe conditions in many facilities across the country," Bill Sweeney, AARP's senior vice president for government affairs, wrote in the letter.

The standards, finalized by the White House in April 2024, call for nursing homes funded through Medicare and Medicaid to provide every resident with at least 0.55 hours of care from a registered nurse and 2.45 hours of care from a nurse’s aide each day. A registered nurse must be on-site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide skilled care. ​

To meet the standards, a facility with 100 residents would need two or three registered nurses and at least 10 or 11 nurse aides, as well as two additional nurse staff, who could be registered nurses, licensed professional nurses or nurse aides, according to the White House.

AARP pushed for the requirements, which would apply to most of the nation’s 15,000 nursing homes, which are home to an estimated 1.2 million people. More than 185,000 nursing home residents died during the COVID-19 pandemic, casting a spotlight on long-standing concerns, including inadequate staffing.

​Read our letter to the Committee on Energy & Commerce and keep up with AARP’s nursing home coverage.