On October 27th, LeadingAge joined several organizations in sending a letter to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure highlighting the agency’s failure to acknowledge and include Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) in the proposed federal staffing rule. As the letter states, there are more than 170,000 LPNs working in nursing homes today, making up 13 percent of the entire nursing home workforce.
Further, the exclusion of LPNs demonstrates the flaws of the proposed federal staffing mandate, which does not consider the interprofessional collaboration model nor the need to make staffing decisions based on each unique resident and their care plan. The letter requests the Administration withdraw the proposed rule. However, it also asserts that the Registered Nurse (RN) requirement should include all worked hours of LPNs, as both are licensed nurses. Read the full text of the letter here.
