June 24, 2022 – Medline earlier this month joined the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) and 500+ long-term care providers at the annual Congressional Briefing to advocate for solutions to critical issues impacting care organizations.
This year’s legislative meetings focused on the financial future of the long-term care industry. With a majority of the country’s nursing homes and assisted living facilities struggling financially due to inflation and the rising costs to run their facilities, Medline team members discussed viable resources to help increase access to care in communities.
A critical aspect of driving long-term success of care organizations is making sure there is staff to care for residents. To help address the workforce shortage, advocates asked Congress to co-sponsor the Building America’s Health Care Workforce Act. The legislation provides a reasonable grace period of 24 months to continue emergency waivers, after the COVID-19 public health emergency ends, enabling temporary nurse aides to transition to long-term roles. They also asked Congress to support the bipartisan Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act to recapture unused visas from previous fiscal years for doctors, nurses, and their families. The legislation also allows for the entry of nurses with approved immigrant visas, and allows physicians with approved immigrant petitions to adjust their status to durable immigration and continue to care for patients.