II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 750
To prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from implementing,
enforcing, or otherwise giving effect to a final rule regarding minimum
staffing for nursing facilities, and to establish an advisory panel on
the nursing home workforce.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY26, 2025
Mrs. F
ISCHER(for herself and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services
from implementing, enforcing, or otherwise giving effect
to a final rule regarding minimum staffing for nursing
facilities, and to establish an advisory panel on the nurs-
ing home workforce.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Rural Sen-4
iors’ Access to Care Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON IMPLEMENTING, ENFORCING, OR 1
OTHERWISE GIVING EFFECT TO THE FINAL 2
STAFFING RULE. 3
Beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the 4
Secretary of Health and Human Services may not imple-5
ment, enforce, or otherwise give effect to the final rule 6
entitled ‘‘Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Minimum 7
Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities and 8
Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency Reporting’’ 9
published by the Department of Health and Human Serv-10
ices on May 10, 2024 (89 Fed. Reg. 40976–41000), and 11
may not promulgate any substantially similar rule. 12
SEC. 3. ADVISORY PANEL ON NURSING HOME WORKFORCE. 13
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 14
date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary of 15
Health and Human Services (in this section referred to 16
as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall establish the Advisory Panel on 17
the Nursing Home Workforce (in this section referred to 18
as the ‘‘Panel’’). 19
(b) M
EMBERSHIP.— 20
(1) N
UMBER AND APPOINTMENT .—The Panel 21
shall be composed of 17 members representing var-22
ious geographic areas, appointed by the Secretary as 23
follows: 24
(A) 1 representative of the Secretary, who 25
shall serve as the chair of the Panel. 26
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(B) 2 registered nurses who actively fur-1
nish services in a skilled nursing facility or 2
nursing facility, one of whom shall represent a 3
rural area. 4
(C) 2 licensed professional nurses who ac-5
tively furnish services in a skilled nursing facil-6
ity or nursing facility, one of whom shall rep-7
resent a rural area. 8
(D) 2 nurse aides who actively furnish 9
services in a skilled nursing facility or nursing 10
facility, one of whom shall represent a rural 11
area. 12
(E) 2 physicians who actively furnish serv-13
ices in a skilled nursing facility or nursing facil-14
ity, one of whom shall represent a rural area. 15
(F) 1 representative of the Centers for 16
Medicare & Medicaid Services. 17
(G) 1 representative of the Health Re-18
sources and Services Administration. 19
(H) 2 individuals with professional exper-20
tise related to the nursing home workforce, one 21
of whom shall have experience with respect to 22
the nursing home workforce in rural and under-23
served areas. 24
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(I) 1 licensed administrator or representa-1
tive of a rural not-for-profit skilled nursing fa-2
cility. 3
(J) 1 licensed administrator or representa-4
tive of a rural for-profit skilled nursing facility. 5
(K) 2 representatives of State boards of 6
nursing. 7
(2) T
IMING OF APPOINTMENTS .—Each of the 8
appointments under paragraph (1) shall be made not 9
later than 60 days after the date of the enactment 10
of this section. 11
(3) T
ERMS; VACANCIES.—Each member shall be 12
appointed for a term not to exceed 2 years, and a 13
vacancy in the Panel shall be filled in the manner 14
in which the original appointment was made. 15
(4) Q
UORUM.—13 members of the Panel shall 16
constitute a quorum. 17
(5) F
EDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT .— 18
Chapter 10 of title 5, United States Code, shall 19
apply to the Panel. 20
(c) D
UTIES.— 21
(1) M
EETINGS.— 22
(A) F
REQUENCY.—The Panel shall meet 23
not later than 180 days after the date on which 24
the appointments described in subsection (b) 25
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are made, and not less frequently than twice 1
per year thereafter. 2
(B) P
UBLIC ACCESS.—The Panel shall 3
make available on a public website of the De-4
partment of Health and Human Services— 5
(i) real-time virtual access to each 6
meeting of the Panel; and 7
(ii) not later than 30 days after each 8
such meeting, a recording and transcript of 9
the meeting. 10
(2) R
EPORTS.— 11
(A) I
NITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 60 12
days after the initial meeting of the Panel 13
under paragraph (1)(A), the Panel shall submit 14
to the Secretary, the Committee on Ways and 15
Means and the Committee on Energy and Com-16
merce of the House of Representatives, and the 17
Committee on Finance of the Senate, and shall 18
publish on a public website of the Centers for 19
Medicare & Medicaid Services, a report on the 20
state of the nursing home workforce, which 21
shall include— 22
(i) an assessment of the state of the 23
nursing home workforce in rural and un-24
derserved areas, including an analysis of— 25
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(I) workforce shortages; and 1
(II) with respect to individuals 2
entitled to benefits under part A of 3
title XVIII of the Social Security Act 4
(42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) and individ-5
uals entitled to medical assistance 6
under title XIX of such Act (42 7
U.S.C. 1396 et seq.), barriers to ac-8
cess to skilled nursing facilities and 9
nursing facilities caused by such 10
shortages; 11
(ii) an analysis of regulations, sub- 12
regulatory guidance, and guidance to State 13
survey agencies issued by the Secretary 14
with respect to skilled nursing facilities 15
and nursing facilities, and the effects of 16
such regulations and guidance on the nurs-17
ing home workforce; 18
(iii) recommendations for the Sec-19
retary to strengthen the nursing home 20
workforce, including recommendations for 21
decreasing regulatory burdens for skilled 22
nursing facilities and nursing facilities and 23
making financial investments in training 24
for health professionals; and 25
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(iv) other information as the Panel 1
determines necessary. 2
(B) S
UBSEQUENT REPORTS .—Not later 3
than 1 year after submitting the initial report 4
under subparagraph (A), and annually there-5
after, the Panel shall submit and publish an up-6
dated report in the same manner as required 7
under such subparagraph. 8
(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi-9
nitions apply: 10
(1) N
URSING FACILITY.—The term ‘‘nursing 11
facility’’ has the meaning given such term in section 12
1919(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 13
1396r(a)). 14
(2) N
URSING HOME WORKFORCE .—The term 15
‘‘nursing home workforce’’ means the workforce of 16
health professionals that provide direct resident care 17
in skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities. 18
(3) R
URAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ 19
means any area outside a metropolitan statistical 20
area. 21
(4) S
KILLED NURSING FACILITY .—The term 22
‘‘skilled nursing facility’’ has the meaning given such 23
term in section 1819(a) of the Social Security Act 24
(42 U.S.C. 1395i–3(a)). 25
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(5) UNDERSERVED AREA .—The term ‘‘under-1
served area’’ means an area that is— 2
(A) a health professional shortage area, as 3
such term is defined in section 332(a)(1)(A) of 4
the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 5
254e(a)(1)(A)); or 6
(B) designated as a medically underserved 7
area pursuant to section 330(b)(3)(A) of such 8
Act (42 U.S.C. 254b(b)(3)(A)). 9
Æ
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