The nursing home industry is opposing a mandate from the Biden administration requiring all long-term care staff to receive the COVID vaccine or lose federal funding for Medicare and Medicaid.
Nursing home operators strongly support vaccination for everyone. But they say a mandate that singles out their industry and does not include all health care workers will chase away workers from facilities that are already understaffed.
"If you're a vaccine hesitant individual, and no matter what won't be convinced, you can simply leave employment under a nursing home only mandate and go across the street to the hospital that may not have a mandate implemented on its own volition, or to a home health company or another health care provider,” said Zach Cattell, president of the Indiana Health Care Association and Indiana Center for Assisted Living (IHCA/INCAL).
Studies show 82.8 percent of long term care residents are vaccinated in Indiana. But only 52.8 percent of staff in those same facilities are fully vaccinated.
Cattell issued a statement following the announcement Wednesday from President Joe Biden requiring nursing home staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in a forthcoming regulation:
“IHCA/INCAL appreciates the Biden Administration’s continued efforts to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates across the nation, both in the community and in long term care settings. The action announced by the Administration to mandate nursing facilities, alone, does not go far enough. COVID-19 vaccination mandates for health care personnel should be applied to all health care settings. Without an across-the-board mandate for all health care settings, the nursing facility only action will exacerbate already difficult workforce challenges.”
“Several Indiana nursing home providers have already instituted employer mandates for COVID-19 vaccination and many more are planning to roll them out when the vaccines are fully authorized by the FDA. Indiana’s nursing facility staff continue to fight COVID-19 and nursing facility leadership continue to provide education on the importance of vaccination. However, a federal mandate that applies only to nursing facilities will cause vaccine hesitant workers to flee to other health care providers that do not have to follow a mandate and leave many facilities without adequate staff to care for residents. We ask the Biden administration to work directly with our providers and national association partners to address this challenge.”