Fischer bill targets nursing home mandates

The Biden administration’s nursing home staffing mandate, however well-intentioned, is fundamentally unworkable for rural communities. Last week, Sen. Deb Fischer took action to address this pressing issue by rolling out the “Protecting Rural Seniors’ Access to Care Act.” Her bill aims to counteract the administration’s unrealistic regulations and ensure that seniors in rural areas, particularly in Nebraska, continue to have access to quality care.

The Gazette has previously raised concerns about the Biden-era mandate requiring a registered nurse to be on-site 24/7 and mandating 3.5 daily hours of nursing care per resident. While such regulations may seem ideal in theory, they ignore the stark reality of Nebraska’s workforce crisis. The state has already suffered the closure of 44 nursing homes and 35 assisted living facilities since 2015, eliminating more than 3,000 beds. Further regulatory burdens will only accelerate this troubling trend.

To fully grasp the magnitude of this challenge, we need only look to Japan, where the demographic crisis is even more severe. Japan has one of the most rapidly aging populations in the world, and by 2040, it is projected to have a shortage of nearly one million workers. The country’s labor force participation rate has declined to 62.3%, one of the lowest among developed nations.

Japan, having exhausted its available human labor resources, has turned to technology to bridge the gap in elder care. A recent article from the CATO Institute highlights how Japan is leading the way in automation for nursing homes, utilizing robotic caregivers and artificial intelligence-driven monitoring systems to supplement human staff. The high-tech solutions, once deemed impractical for elder care, are now proving viable out of sheer necessity.

While the Japanese approach may seem futuristic—perhaps even unsettling—it underscores a critical point: the Biden administration’s mandates were moving in the wrong direction. Instead of acknowledging the harsh realities of workforce shortages, the federal rule imposed staffing requirements that many facilities simply cannot meet. If a nursing home cannot comply, it risks shutting down, displacing vulnerable seniors and forcing them to relocate miles away from their communities.

Fischer’s bill recognizes these issues and offers a practical solution. By blocking the CMS rule from taking full effect and establishing an advisory panel that includes rural and underserved communities, her legislation seeks to bring much-needed flexibility and realism to senior care policy.

The Gazette continues to support efforts to reform those and other unrealistic mandates. The Biden-era regulations, despite their good intentions, fail to consider the dire labor conditions in rural America. Rather than setting facilities up for failure, policymakers must work toward solutions that acknowledge workforce limitations and explore alternative methods—including technology—to enhance senior care. Sen. Fischer’s bill is a step in the right direction, and we urge Congress to take it seriously.