KEARNEY- The White House announced their final ruling, mandating nursing homes to have a registered nurse on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That was a hot topic as local healthcare leaders gathered at the Nebraska Health Care Association Spring Conference in Kearney. President and CEO, Jalene Carpenter said these new rules will impact rural areas the most.

Some counties in Nebraska don’t have an RN that lives there. Additionally, the mandate is not funded by the federal government. “I would say it is going to limit access to care if this rule goes into place as it’s projected to do; we do not have the RNs in the state to be able to even meet this need,” said Carpenter. “So it’s not something that’s even rational to think that can happen.”

Other rules are 35 minutes of daily RN care per resident and over two hours of care from nurse aid. Carpenter said U.S. Senator Deb Fischer is working on a provision to minimize the staffing rule. Carpenter feels the federal mandate is unobtainable, making U.S. Senator Fischer’s provision right for Nebraska. Urban providers will have two years to meet federal mandates, while rural providers will have five years.

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