“Strong training programs [for certified nursing assistants] are a necessity to both ensure these valuable professionals have the foundation needed to serve older adults and to help fill a pipeline that is in dire need of replenishment,” Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, stated in support of the Ensuring Seniors’ Access to Quality Care Act pending in the House of Representatives.
The number of nursing assistants in nursing homes declined from 627,370 in 2011 to 471,160 in 2021. From 2020 to 2021 alone, the nursing assistant workforce lost 56,320 jobs — the largest single-year decline in the past decade. At the same time that the aging services workforce is shrinking, the population of adults age 65 and older in the U.S. is projected to nearly double, from 49.2 million in 2016 to 94.7 in 2060, according to PHI National’s annual snapshot of the direct care workforce, released earlier this month.
“Without workers, there is no care, which is why every possible lever to build the direct care workforce must be pulled,” Sloan said.
The House legislation, which is a companion to the Senate bill by the same name that was introduced in June, is being sponsored in the House by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Ron Estes (R-KS). Both the Senate and the House bills modify the CNA training lock-out mandated by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987. The legislation would limit some restrictive regulations that bar some nursing homes from conducting training programs for in-house CNAs for two years after deficiencies such as poor conditions or patient safety violations are discovered, according to LeadingAge.
“This legislation is a positive step towards strengthening the workforce within our senior living care field. We depend on this legislation to give our CNAs the tools that they need to do their jobs well and are grateful to Representative Connolly in his efforts to protect older Virginians in our care,” said Kera Wooten, executive director at Westminster at Lake Ridge, Lake Ridge, VA.
“This House bill brings us closer to achieving one much-needed milestone in addressing the aging services sector’s long-standing workforce challenges,” Sloan added.
