Understaffed NY Nursing Homes Face $2,000-a-Day Fines in Early 2023
By Yehudit Garmaise
The hundreds of poorly staffed New York nursing homes will face fines of $2,000 a day in the first months of 2023, as the state finally starts to enforce a 2021 law establishing staffing minimums.
Executive orders and legal challenges forced the state to delay its enforcement of staffing minimums that 75% of New York’s approximately 600 nursing homes have been flouting, industry officials told lohud.com.
However, many nursing home owners, who report struggling to attract and afford new workers, have already begun to reject new residents.
Approximately 6,700 nursing home beds statewide currently stand empty due to statewide healthcare staffing shortages, reported James Clyne, Jr., the president and CEO of the nursing home trade group LeadingAge.
While many nursing home operators consider reducing the number of their residents, others seek to attract new healthcare workers by creating positive solutions, such as offering signing bonuses, tuition assistance, and other incentives.
Without an influx of new healthcare talent, nursing homes could face drastic service cuts and even closures, warned healthcare leaders who spoke at the recent state Public Health and Health Planning Council meeting.
In New York, government penalties for insufficient staffing at nursing homes have been rare. Only 3% of New York’s facilities reported staffing levels that sank below Medicare’s minimums were previously cited, reported USA Today.
After USA Today recently revealed backlogs of complaints about staffing shortages in New York nursing homes, health and elected officials will be closely watching the enforcement of New York’s new nursing home minimum staffing law.
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