Restore Federal Nursing-Home Staffing Standards Now

I’m writing to urge you to take immediate action to reverse the recent HHS/CMS repeal of federal minimum staffing requirements in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. This rollback puts older adults and people with disabilities at serious, predictable risk. The previous staffing standards—requiring 24/7 RN coverage and baseline daily care hours—were grounded in decades of GAO research and supported by nonpartisan groups like AARP. Repealing them hands corporate operators a free pass to understaff facilities that already struggle to provide safe, humane care. We have seen what understaffing does. During COVID-19, more than 200,000 long-term-care residents and staff died, and the worst outcomes were consistently in the most understaffed facilities. After Hurricane Irma, twelve seniors died at the Hollywood Hills facility when too few staff were available to monitor distress. At the Life Care Center in Kirkland, understaffing left a single RN responsible for dozens of medically fragile residents, delaying emergency intervention and worsening an already deadly outbreak. State investigations across the country have repeatedly found that some corporate chains intentionally understaff to cut costs, leading to preventable infections, dehydration, injuries, and deaths. Removing federal minimum standards will only multiply these dangers. I’m asking you to: 1. Publicly oppose the repeal; 2. Support or co-sponsor legislation to reinstate and strengthen staffing standards; 3. Press HHS/CMS to restore enforceable protections; and 4. Support long-term-care workforce funding to help facilities meet safe staffing levels. This is a national elder-safety crisis. I am following your actions on this issue, and I request a written response explaining what steps you will take to protect residents from the consequences of this repeal. Thank you for your attention to this critical national matter. Your leadership is needed to protect our most vulnerable citizens at a time when they should not face any hardship due to lack of essential care.