Tag Archives for LeadingAge Rhode Island

Gov. McKee’s Proposed FY 27 Rhode Island Budget: What’s in It for Seniors

Published in RINewsToday on February 2, 2026

Gov. Dan McKee outlined key elements of his proposed $14.8 billion FY 2027 budget during his State of the State Address on Jan. 13, 2026. Two days later, his full budget, proposing a 3.6% increase over the previous fiscal year, was officially released via press release.

The budget centers on an “Affordability for All” agenda and a $600 million bond package, covering the fiscal period starting July 1, 2026. Key proposals include a new income tax tier for earnings over $1 million, a permanent child tax credit, a phased elimination of the state tax on Social Security benefits, repeal of a gas tax increase, and continued investments in projects that support jobs and economic growth.

The proposal also aims to shield vulnerable Rhode Islanders from potential federal cuts, including the elimination of Affordable Care Act subsidies, changes in Medicaid eligibility rules, reductions in federal support for hospitals treating uninsured patients, and modifications to SNAP regulations.

“My commitments to Rhode Islanders are clear: putting more money back in families’ pockets, protecting the most vulnerable from President Trump’s safety net cuts, and keeping Rhode Island building to support good-paying jobs and long-term economic growth,” McKee said in a statement accompanying his full budget.

While the Governor’s plan emphasizes affordability through higher incomes and improved healthcare outcomes, along with proposing a 3% tax on high earners, Jesse Martin, Executive Vice President of SEIU 1199NE, cautions, “The plan falls short of what’s needed to meet these goals. What’s more, the state’s recent minimum wage increase has actually reduced take-home pay for low-income home care workers and cut care hours for their vulnerable consumers. Rather than reducing care, the governor should offset these costs through increased federal Medicaid funding.” Martin co-represents over 5,000 health care and service workers in Rhode Island.

Budget Highlights for Older Adults  

For over a decade, the Rhode Island General Assembly has considered measures to gradually eliminate or reduce the state tax on Social Security benefits. This budget proposes phasing out this tax over the next three years. The full cost impact would be $60.1Million in FY 2030.

In AARP Rhode Island’s 2023 Vital Voices survey of Rhode Islanders 45+, 89% agreed that “Rhode Island lawmakers should repeal the state tax on Social Security,” said State Director Catherine Taylor in a newspaper editorial. “This sentiment is consistent regardless of age, gender, or political party,” she said.

Laura Hart, Gov. McKee’s Deputy Director of Communications, notes that senior services funding has grown under his leadership: “In FY21, the budget included $0.8 million for senior services. By FY26, that number had risen to $1.6 million. For FY27, the governor recommends $1.8 million—more than doubling the funding since he took office.”

Hart adds, “Rhode Island is only one of eight states that tax Social Security income. This tax can discourage retirees from staying in the state and contributing to the economy. Under the Governor’s proposal, the phase-out prioritizes 9,000–10,000 early retirees whose average income is $44K single/$75K joint—clearly not high-income earners—and who represent one-third of the population currently subject to the tax.”

Aging advocates continue to push for an increase in funding for local senior centers, aiming for allocations equivalent to $10 per resident age 65 and older.

Support for Nursing Homes and Affordable Housing

“LeadingAge Connecticut & Rhode Island was pleased to see the Governor’s budget proposal include a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment for nursing home rates, along with an initial rate increase equal to 50% of Rhode Island’s Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner’s biennial rate review recommendation for many Medicaid-funded home and community-based services,” says President Mag Morelli. “We understand this increase is intended as the first phase, with the remaining 50% anticipated next year,” she said.

Morelli also highlights the Administration’s focus on affordable housing, noting the growing need for accessible and affordable options for older adults. She urges further support for Medicaid-assisted living programs to sustain existing services and promote expansion, which she describes as a cost-effective option supporting independence and choice.

Kathleen Gerard of Advocates for Better Care in Rhode Island, a member of the Raise the Bar on Resident Care Coalition, emphasizes the importance of transparency and resources: “As our long-term care system faces increasingly complex pressures, transparency, accountability, and adequate resources are critical to protecting the health and safety of older adults and people with disabilities.”

She adds, “In addition to enforcing the Nursing Home Staffing and Quality Care Act, Raise the Bar is calling for a full Medicaid cost-of-living increase for nursing homes—above the 2.5% proposed by Governor McKee. We also urge new funding for the Ombudsman program, which has gone years without an increase despite its vital role in helping residents resolve care concerns. Finally, we support the Department of Health’s nursing home financial transparency bill to ensure owners are accountable for public funds.”

Other Provisions

The proposed budget also aims to maintain enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies to keep coverage affordable for approximately 20,000 individuals. Without $9.5 million in state funding, an estimated 6,500 individuals could lose coverage.

The budget seeks to curb healthcare cost growth and increase drug-price transparency by authorizing the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner to set enforceable annual cost-growth targets and requiring Pharmacy Benefit Managers to report detailed rebate, pricing, and fee data. These measures are designed to improve oversight, contain costs, and reduce drug prices for older Rhode Islanders.

McKee also proposes a $19.3 million investment in information technology, personnel, and resources to ensure Rhode Islanders can retain Medicaid and SNAP benefits under the federal reconciliation bill H.R. 1, while maximizing federal funding for these critical programs.

Additionally, the budget allocates $10 million to Rhode Island-based hospitals through the Disproportionate Share Hospitals payment to offset uncompensated care losses. Funding for social and human services providers is increased by $23 million in FY27, and state funds to combat food insecurity are doubled, raising support for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank from $1 million to $2 million. According to America’s Health Rankings, roughly 4.1% of Rhode Island adults aged 60 and older face food insecurity.

Securing Affordable Living for All Older Rhode Islanders

SACRI was pleased to see McKee put emphasis on affordability in his budget address and his expressed support for increasing taxes on higher-income residents to fund essential services, said SACRI Policy Advisor Maureen Maigret. When hammering out the FY2027 budget proposal, she urges the  House and Senate Finance Committees to allocate additional funding for programs and services that assist low- and moderate-income older adults from across the state facing economic challenges. The reality is that  one out of four older RI households have income less than $25,00 and almost half have income less than $50,000. Affordability measures must be aimed at putting money in the pockets of all older adults and not just those fortunate enough to have higher incomes, stated Maigret.

According to Maigret, SACRI has proposed and shared its 2026 Affordability Agenda for Older Adults for the Rhode Island General Assembly to consider as it develops and finalizes the state’s FY2027 state budget. The agenda tackles significant inequities in state programs and services, she noted, pointing out that Medicaid currently allows older adults and adults with disabilities to have only $4,000 in assets (for individuals) to remain eligible. This restriction is particularly unreasonable for those trying to live independently at home, especially since other Medicaid populations do not face such limits. What happens when the roof needs repairs or the hot water heater breaks,” she said.

Maigret stressed that keeping people at home and out of more expensive nursing homes can save the state money over time. She added that in 2025 with strong advocacy from SACRI, strides were made in expanding eligibility for the Medicare Savings Program (MSP), and as of February 1, individuals with incomes up to $2,255 per month are eligible—provided their assets are below $9,660.

SACRI advocates joining at least 12 other states in removing Rhode Island’s MSP asset limitation so that hundreds more Medicare recipients could have their $202.90 monthly Part B premium covered by the federal government. The savings would flow back into the state economy as recipients use the funds for basic needs.

SACRI supports the Governor’s proposed child care tax credit and also advocates for a similar credit for the hundreds of unpaid caregivers providing at-home care for older loved ones, often at significant financial sacrifice.

“We also strongly support Rep. Karen Azalter’s (D-Dist. 60, Pawtucket, Central Falls) and Senator Melissa Murray’s legislation (D-Dist. 24, Woonsocket, North Smithfield) legislative proposals  (H7313 and S2238) to create a 3% surcharge on the top 1% of income earners. The projected revenue of more than $200 million would help offset the modest costs of the proposals in our agenda, as well as other programs affected by federal changes,” Maigret said.

Next Steps

“The submission of the budget by Governor McKee signals the start of the months-long budget process,” says House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi (D-Dist. 23, Warwick). The House and Senate Finance Committees will hold dozens of public hearings, all televised by Capitol TV, to scrutinize every aspect of the budget.

Shekarchi adds, “We welcome all interested parties to testify at the State House. Once the hearings are completed, the House, Senate, and Governor will work together to finalize the budget in late May for adoption in June. Once enacted, it will go into effect on July 1.”

To view Governor McKee’s full budget submission, visit: https://omb.ri.gov/budget-office/fy-2027-governors-budget.

The RI Budget proposal, as seen by our fastest growing demographic, Seniors

Published in RINewsToday on January 22, 2024

This Tuesday, Jan. 16th, Governor Dan McKee officially kicked off the legislative debate on the state’s $13.68 billion FY 2025 Budget in his 48 minute (4,481 word) State of the State address that laid out his spending priorities.  

Over the next six months the General Assembly will hold hearings on the proposed budget blueprint, rewriting it considering state revenues identified during the May Revenue and Caseload Estimating Conferences, and priorities of the legislature.

With passage by the House and Senate and signed into law by McKee, the final FY 2025 Budget will take effect July 1. 

Governor McKee’s budget proposal, which came 2 days after the State of the State, makes funding investments in education, small business, and Rhode Island’s health care system without raising any broad-based taxes. FY 2025 Budget specifics can be found in an article published by RINewsToday on Friday, Jan. 19th – HERE.

With the official release of McKee’s 2025 budget proposal on Thursday afternoon, Jan. 18, his statement along with comments from the top House and Senate legislative leaders were quickly issued.

“The Team Rhode Island budget that I’m sending to the General Assembly today prioritizes programs and initiatives that will help raise the incomes of our fellow Rhode Islanders,” said McKee. 

“By using available resources in targeted and strategic manner, we will continue to make progress on our RI 2030 goals while putting Rhode Islanders to work in good-paying jobs on projects that will pay dividends for decades to come,” he adds.

Legislative leadership

“Over the next several months, Chairman Lou DiPalma and the Senate Finance Committee will conduct a rigorous review of all aspects of the proposed budget through their public hearing process. At this early stage, I am pleased that the budget proposal reflects some of the Senate’s top priorities, including moving our state towards universal public pre-kindergarten, increasing funding for multi-language learners, increasing access to no-cost meals for students, fully funding recommended reimbursement levels for Early Intervention and increasing Medicaid rates,” says President of the Senate Dominick J. Ruggerio.  

“Now that Governor McKee has submitted the budget, our robust review process will begin. Chairman Marvin Abney and the House Finance Committee will soon commence the public hearing process and we look forward to working collaboratively with the Senate and Governor McKee over the next several months. With the federal pandemic funds having been allocated, we must live within our means and carefully scrutinize all spending requests,” says House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi.  “The Senate will continue working with all partners and stakeholders to adopt a budget that meets the needs of all Rhode Islanders.” adds the Senate President.

 Aging Groups and Advocates share thoughts

“It was good to see attention to older adults’ financial security by the proposal to increase the amount of pension income that can be exempted from state income taxes which would bring an estimated $500 benefit to about 10,000 persons,” says Maureen Maigret, The Senior Agenda Coalition’s policy advisor and former Director of the RI Department of Elderly Affairs.

“The Governor is looking for ways to increase Rhode Islanders’ incomes and the Senior Agenda Coalition has been working with several partners on a legislative proposal that would save $2,000 a year for many thousands of lower-income older persons and persons on disabilities on Medicare by having the federal government pay the cost of their Part B premiums,” she says, noting that this policy would not only save seniors money they can use for basic living expenses, but would bring millions of dollars into the state economy. It would also make them eligible for a federal program that helps pay for prescription drugs.

“We hope the $10 million in proposed bridge funding for nursing homes will help them to continue to provide necessary services for their vulnerable populations and avoid more closures which are so traumatic for residents,” says Maigret. 

“Although welcome, we had been hoping for more than the modest increase of $200,000 for senior centers as it gets distributed across around 40 senior centers. We know our older population is growing and our senior centers help hundreds of older adults stay healthy and connected to their communities,” adds Maigret.

“With many older adults waiting three months or more to get home care services and the home care worker shortage continuing it is disappointing to see the reimbursement increases recommended by the Social and Human Service Rate Review Study spread out over three years especially when the Executive Office of Health and Human Services had recommended funding the recommended increases over two years. And home care is not only what persons say they prefer but it costs far less to state government than institutional care,” notes Maigret.

“AARP Rhode Island applauds the Governor’s goal of increasing financial security for all Rhode Islanders,” said AARP Rhode Island State Director Catherine Taylor in a statement released days before the release of McKee’s budget blueprint. “Everyone should be able to choose how they live as they age,” she says.

AARP Rhode Island calls on the General Assembly to pass three pieces of legislation that would help to ensure financial security for all. AARP Rhode Island is pushing lawmakers to give all Rhode Islanders access to a retirement savings vehicle. We are pleased that Governor McKee called for the passage of the Secure Choice program, which would provide an optional, voluntary Roth-IRA plan to the 172,000 Rhode Island employees who do not have access to a plan through their employer,” says Taylor.

“The state must stop taxing Social Security benefits,” says Taylor. “We are one of 9 states that still tax these benefits. We encourage legislators to keep more money in the pockets of older Rhode Islanders by eliminating the state tax on Social Security,” she says.

“Lastly, we must reframe how we think about housing as we grow older, and Accessible Dwelling Units (ADUs) are part of the equation,” adds Taylor, urging the General Assembly to pass legislation providing housing options that are suitable for differing incomes, ages, and life stages. “ADUs are one way to accomplish this goal,” she notes.

This budget is an important step forward in helping our industry, says James Nyberg, president, and CEO of LeadingAge Rhode Island, a nonprofit representing providers across the long-term care spectrum from nursing facilities to home and community-based providers. “We appreciate Governor McKee and his staff recognizing our concerns and providing an infusion of funds across multiple settings to support older Rhode Islanders wherever they call home, their families, and our dedicated workforce,” he adds.  This includes the $10 million in stopgap funds to help nursing homes in critical financial distress as they await their permanent rate adjustment effective October 1. 

According to Nyberg, the October adjustment also included in the budget is expected to provide over $60 million in funding to help nursing homes address workforce challenges, the dramatically increased costs of operating their business, and remain financially viable. “We cannot lose any more nursing homes and hopefully this budget will help mitigate that well-documented threat,” he says.  

Similarly, the budget includes the phase-in of rate increases for assisted living residences and adult day providers, per the OHIC recommendations, to support these providers, consumers, workers, and families,” says Nyberg. “We also hope the proposed housing bond will help address the shortage of safe and affordable housing for seniors, the lack of which was highlighted in the Long Term Care Coordinating Council’s recent report entitled “Meeting the Housing Needs of Rhode Island’s Older Adults and Individuals with Chronic Disabilities and Illnesses,”  he adds.

“While there are financial and other challenges that persist, we look forward to working with the Administration and the General Assembly to advance these and any other initiatives to support our long-term care providers, those for whom they care, and their workforce,” says the nonprofit executive director. 

Governor’s budget doesn’t adequately address Seniors’ needs

While aging groups recognize Gov. McKee’s funding provisions that will benefit older Rhode Islanders, one aging advocate calls on the House Finance Committee to beef up funding for seniors in its budget.

“Once again, the senior population of Rhode Island is the fastest growing demographic in the state, and the most neglected,” charges Susan Sweet, former state associate director of the Department of Elderly Affairs and an advocate for seniors facing hardships and low-income difficulties. “The Governor McKee Budget provides no relief for seniors in the proposed 2025 spending plan other than a small gift to nursing homes that may help that senior care industry and a small increase of $200,000 statewide for dividing up among R.I. Senior Centers,” she says.

According to Sweet, seniors receive nothing in the budget other than a proposed tax reduction of “pension and annuity income” to begin in calendar year 2025.  In other words, nothing for this year.  She notes that the current exemption would be raised from $20,000 to $50,000 while the state remains currently only 9 of 50 states that tax Social Security and a minority of states that tax retirement pensions.

“There is also not one cent for retirees who had their pensions frozen in 2011 and have been stripped of their contracted pension benefits of a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) each year which they were required to sign and to contribute to from their pay each year of employment,” she says.

“Just down the road in our neighboring state of Massachusetts, there is no state income tax for Social Security or pensions. Their proposed budget includes a new $2,400 per senior payout for housing assistance, rental, or ownership costs,” says Sweet. During the State of the Commonwealth speech just one day after RI Governor McKee touted his Team RI game plan, a representative of the (Massachusetts) Senior Action advocacy group was invited and recognized as a leading voice in enabling seniors to stay in their homes with cash assistance from the state, she noted.

As the founder of the R.I. Minority Elder Task Force which provides financial assistance to poor RI elders in dire circumstances, Sweet regularly sees the neglect of seniors without adequate resources for the basic needs of life. “This is not a senior-friendly state, and this is not a senior friendly budget,” she states. 

Expect aging groups and advocates to gear up to push for their senior legislative priorities in the upcoming months. The budget debate now begins.

To listen to Gov. McKee’s State of the State Address on the FY 2025 Budget, go HERE. 

Details of Gov. McKee’s FY 2025 Budget. Go HERE.

To read Gov. McKee’s FY 2025 budget proposal (H 7225), go HERE.  

Age beat writer gives us his most important columns in 2023

Published in Blackstone Valley Call and Times, on January 1, 2024

Over the years, like many of the nation’s news organizations, The Pawtucket Times, created an ‘Age Beat’ column in 2002 that allowed this writer for several years to cover a myriad of aging issues, including Social Security and Medicare, ethics, long-term care, consumer issues, spirituality, pop culture, health care and economics. Ultimately, I would return in July, 2012 to resume writing, also picking up other weekly commentaries.

As an ‘age beat’ journalist for over 44 years, I have penned more than 930 stories covering aging, health care and medical issues. These authored and coauthored pieces have appeared in national, state and trade publications.

In 2023, my articles appeared weekly in 52 issues of the Pawtucket Times and Woonsocket Call (now combined in one newspaper called the Blackstone Valley Call & Times), and RINewsToday.com, a statewide digital news publication.

As we celebrate the New Year and look forward to 2024, looking back, here are my top five favorite articles published in 2023:

“In the coming years, generations of older Veterans will be leaving us,” – RINewsToday, Nov. 13, 2023  

This commentary published before Veterans Day, had the Department of Veteran Affairs estimate that there will be a couple of hundred World War II veterans, over 1,600 Korean and 14,000 Vietnam veterans still alive in Rhode Island. In the coming years, frailty and health issues will keep these elderly veterans’ from attending Veteran Day celebrations and even at their reunions.     
 
As a generation of Civil War and World War I veterans vanish in 1956 and 2011, this writer urged readers to cherish the surviving older veterans. In the next thirty years, it was stressed that new generations of veterans who fought in World War II, Korea and Vietnam will pass away and these veterans were urged to share their personal stories and oral histories for the sake of America’s future generations. “They have so much to say, and America’s younger generations have much to learn from them,” noted the commentary. 

This commentary was dedicated to the writer’s father, Second Lt. Frank M. Weiss, who died in December 2003, in Dallas, Texas at 89 years old.

“Passages – Life and Times of Morris Nathanson,” RINewsToday, Oct. 7, 2023

Over two decades, this writer would visit Morris Nathanson on Saturday afternoons sitting in his living room drinking cups of freshly brewed coffee.  We would talk about Pawtucket, world events, and he would reminiscence about his amazing life’s journey from his childhood in Pawtucket, to the international world he lived in later in his life.

My friend, 95-year-old Morris Nathanson, a painter, illustrator and restaurant/hospitality designer died last September. My commentary was written to recognize and honor Morris’s incredible life, detailing his World War II experiences, fighting for civil rights, and his impact on the art and design scene.

Growing up poor during the depression in Pawtucket’s Pleasant View neighborhood, Morris, a spitting image of Mark Twine, or maybe Albert Einstein to me, would ultimately have a major impact on Rhode Island’s art and restaurant design scene. 

Morris brought the strategy of adaptive re-use of underutilized and vacant mills to city and state officials, a concept that he picked up from his years of working in New York City, watching the development and transformation of the industrial mills in SOHO.

Witnessing firsthand man’s biases and prejudices motivated him throughout seventy-five years of his long life to fight for the equal rights of all.  Morris participated in the Freedom Rides of 1961, Dr. Martin Luther King’s campaigns in Selma and Birmingham, Alabama, and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  

At age 24, Morris, head of the design team at Paramount, developed and designed the first franchise in American history, Dunkin Donuts. While working with Friedman he also designed restaurants in the pavilions of the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York.

When Morris left Paramount Restaurant Supply Co, his most notable design projects locally include Hemenway’s, Ruth Chris Steak House, 22 Bowen, restaurants and bars for the Inn at Castle Hill, Capital Grill, Pizzeria Uno, Joe’s American Bar & Grill, Mills Tavern, Waterman Grill, Red Stripe and for those who still remember, the beloved Ming Garden and McGarry’s Restaurant in downtown Providence.  He also had clients all over the world.

It would take pages to detail all of Morris’s professional accomplishments while serving on state, city and nonprofit organizations throughout his long-life.  Hopefully I whetted your appetite to learn more about his life by reading this commentary. 

“Will Magaziner fulfill call to reestablish House Aging Committee,” RINewsToday, Oct. 9, 2023.

As reported, with Congressman David Cicilline retiring from Congress, no House lawmaker has yet stepped up to reintroduce, H.R. 583, the Rhode Island lawmaker’s resolution to reestablish the House Select Committee on Aging (HSCoA). Without receiving a vote in the House Rules Committee at the end of the 117th Congress, the resolution was considered “dead.” On his way out Cicilline was not successful in passing the legislative baton and finding a new original sponsor.  The Rhode Island Congressman had introduced this resolution in four Congressional sessions.

The HSCoA was a permanent select committee of the U.S. House of representatives between 1974 to 1992.  The committee was initially created with the intent of not crafting legislative proposals, but of conducting investigations and holding hearings to put the Congressional spotlight on aging issues. Its purpose was to push for legislation and other actions, working with standing committees, through regular committee channels.

This writer asks who will ultimately pick up the legislative baton from Cicilline to become Rhode Island’s fiery aging advocate?  Will it be Congressman Seth Magaziner, or the newly elected Congressman Gabe Amo, from Rhode Island’s Congressional District 1 to step to the plate?

The article asks why shouldn’t a Rhode Island Congressman follow in the footsteps of former Rhode Island Congressman John E. Fogarty (dec.) and be the original sponsor of legislation that will have a major impact on national aging policy. The lawmaker would become a hero to America’s seniors.  

“Unique partnership creates Senior Fellows pilot program,” RINewsToday, Dec. 11, 2023

This commentary announced that the success of a pilot Senior Fellows Program, created by Leadership Rhode Island (LRI) and Age-Friendly Rhode Island (AFRI), the organizations are seeking funding to offer another session in the summer of 2024.

The unique initiative prepared 25 Senior Fellows to advocate for improvements that address age-related challenges in Rhode Island. The initial eight-week program was tuition-free. The first crop of Senior Fellows, residents of 13 different cities and towns in Rhode Island, ranged in age from 62 to 83. Nearly half were retired.

The idea to develop a senior advocates program came from Marianne Raimondo, a graduate of LRI’s Core Program, who made the connection between Leadership Rhode Island and James Burke Connell. Connell is the executive director of Age-Friendly Rhode Island, an initiative at Rhode Island College that represents a coalition of public and private agencies, organizations and individuals committed to healthy aging.

Connell proposed the pilot program because, he says, empowering seniors to become advocates, activists and champions of age-friendly thinking and practices “will result in a Rhode Island where older adults thrive and live their best lives.”  He was inspired by similar programs in Maine and New Hampshire.

Age-Friendly RI raised the funds for the pilot program, and relied on LRI’s “talented team” to handle recruiting, participant selection, curriculum planning, and guiding participants in the development of individual community commitments, Connell says.

Most session days were divided into two parts, with half focused on knowledge-building around relevant issues, such as housing, food insecurity, transportation needs, and health care. The other half focused on skill-building, such as writing persuasively, public speaking and network building, to enable the Fellows to develop and eventually execute their own Civic Commitments.

The Fellows took turns describing their Civic Commitments during their final session, held at the RI State House.  The presentations, which included several “poignant and pin-drop moments,” were well received.

“Increased funding must be tied to nursing home mandated minimum staffing“, RINewsToday, September 25, 2023

The commentary announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had issued a proposed rule to establish comprehensive staffing requirements for nursing homes—including, for the first time, national minimum nurse staffing standards. CMS officials said that the requirement would improve both safety and promote high-quality care in the nation’s 18,700 skilled nursing facilities delivering care to 1.2 million residents each day.

National and Rhode Island nursing home trade groups pushed back on the unfunded mandate requiring more staffing especially during a severe labor shortage forcing hundreds of facilities across the nation to close because of lack of workers.

​John E. Gage, President, and CEO of the Rhode Island Health Care Association, reported that six Rhode Island-based facilities have closed since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. Three others are currently in receivership. He warns that arbitrary federal staffing mandates will result in more closures, and residents will be displaced from their homes just as they were most recently when Charlesgate Nursing Center in Providence.

James Nyberg, president, and CEO of LeadingAge Rhode Island, with offices in East Providence, sees a staffing ratio mandate as a blunt enforcement tool that does not consider the numerous challenges facing providers, including Medicaid underfunding, lack of workforce, and the diversity of resident needs. Moreover, he charged that fining for being unable to meet a staffing ratio is counterproductive by siphoning off scarce resources that facilities need as they seek to address their workforce and resident care needs.

To review ALL of Herb’s articles published by RINewstoday, go to https://rinewstoday.com/herb-weiss/