Nursing Facility Staffing Policy: A Case Study for Political Change

Abstract

After a decade of consumer advocacy, nursing facility staffing became a national political issue in the fall of 2000 when President Clinton and three senators made proposals to set minimum staffing standards for nursing facilities and to spend $1 billion in federal funds to improve nurse staffing levels. The federal standards for nurse staffing have been identified as being too low to ensure minimum quality of care in nursing facilities and recommendations have been made to set new minimum federal standards. The question is, What minimum standards should be set and how should these standards be monitored and enforced by federal and state governments? As these issues are debated, a new Congress and new president may raise questions about these staffing proposals and may be concerned about the potential cost to government. Although remarkable progress has been made in raising the staffing issues, hard work remains before public policy changes can be made.