Protecting Rural Seniors’ Access to Care Act
Sponsored By: Senator Deb Fischer
Introduced
Summary
Blocks a federal nursing‑home staffing rule and creates a panel to study rural workforce shortages. This bill forbids implementing or enforcing the CMS rule that set minimum nurse staffing requirements and reporting mandates, and it establishes a congressionally required advisory panel to study nursing home staffing in rural and underserved areas.
Show full summary
- Seniors and families: Stops the specific staffing mandates in the rule, including a requirement for a nurse onsite 24/7 and a minimum of 3.48 total nurse staffing hours per resident per day. This removes that federal staffing floor from long‑term care facilities.
- State Medicaid programs and facility staff: Bars the rule's requirement that state Medicaid programs report payments to direct care workers and support staff of nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
- Rural and underserved communities: Creates a 17‑member Advisory Panel on the Nursing Home Workforce to study shortages and barriers, issue annual reports to Congress, and recommend steps such as reducing regulatory burdens and investing in training.
Your PRIA Score
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this bill and every other piece of legislation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Advisory panel on rural nursing workforce
This bill would create a 17-member Advisory Panel on the Nursing Home Workforce. If enacted, the Panel would study workforce shortages, especially in rural and underserved areas, and analyze how rules and guidance affect staffing and access under Medicare Part A and Medicaid. The Panel would propose recommendations to strengthen the workforce, reduce regulatory burdens, and invest in training, and it must issue an initial and then annual public reports.
Blocks new nursing home staffing rule
This bill would stop HHS from implementing or enforcing the May 10, 2024 staffing rule titled "Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities and Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency Reporting." If enacted, CMS could not apply that rule to skilled nursing and nursing facilities, and HHS would be barred from issuing a substantially similar rule. Nursing home owners might avoid the rule's compliance costs. Residents on Medicare or Medicaid would not get the staffing protections or transparency the rule would have required.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Deb Fischer
NE • R
Cosponsors
James Lankford
OK • R
Sponsored 2/26/2025
Roger Marshall
KS • R
Sponsored 3/10/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.govTake It Personal
Get Your Personalized Policy View
Start a Free Government Policy Watch to see how policy affects your household, then upgrade to PRIA Full Coverage for year-round monitoring.
Already have an account? Sign in