Standing up for Seniors: New Mexico Joins 17 Other States in Attempt to Protect Standards and Regulations for Long-Term Care Facilities

Albuquerque, NM – Attorney General Raúl Torrez, as part of a coalition of 18 attorneys general, filed a letter this week that challenges the federal government’s Interim Final Rule, which intends to eliminate minimum staffing standards and other comprehensive regulations for long-term health care facilities. These standards and regulations were established by the Nursing Home Reform Initiative however, its beneficial reforms have been overturned by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. In its letter, the coalition urges that regulations still must exist to improve quality of care and patient health outcomes for residents in skilled nursing facilities across the country.

“Scaling back critical care for those who reside in long-term care facilities is irresponsible and renders one of our most vulnerable populations at significant risk of declined health, increased instances of emergencies and more,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez. “It is absolutely essential to the health and well-being of patients that we safeguard these standards and regulations to protect our seniors.”

The Nursing Home Reform Initiative was instituted in May 2024 at the suggestion of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at the Department of Health and Human Services. The initiative created a minimum staffing standard for nursing hours per resident day, required every facility to have registered nurses to provide care on site 24/7, and a minimum staffing standard for hours worked by certified nurse assistants.

Studies and statistics show that the increased numbers of staff and the quality of staff associated with the reform manifest in improvement to the quality of care, increased attentiveness, mitigation of negative outcomes and savings of up to $465 million dollars in Medicare by reducing medical emergencies and hospitalizations.

In the letter, the multistate coalition asserts that:

• Data proves that increased staffing of nurses, as well as mandatory requirements for the presence of RNs on site, is associated with positive health outcomes for facility residents.
• Because some states, such as California, New York, and Massachusetts, have already established staffing requirements, eliminating regulations at the national level widens the interstate gap in quality of care.
• The proposed Interim Final Rule needs to adopt replacement staffing standards to prevent long-term care establishments from cutting costs and corners at the expense of their patients already vulnerable to abuse and abandonment.
• All regulations proposed by the CMS should not preempt existing or future state standards that seek to provide higher protections to residents.

In filing the letter, Attorney General Torrez joins the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.