Introduced last week, the bipartisan Building America’s Health Care Workforce Act would extend pandemic-era allowances to help boost the nursing home workforce.
The bill would:
- Allow temporary nurse aides (TNAs) in nursing homes 24 months to complete training and testing requirements to become certified nursing assistants.
- Enable TNAs to apply their on-the-job experience and training toward federal requirements to become certified.
These efforts, according to Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), one of the bill’s sponsors, “would maintain patient safety protections by requiring competency evaluations that assess temporary nurse aides on a variety of factors, including interpersonal skills, performing basic nursing skills, personal care skills, and mental health and social services needs to name a few. It would also allow continuity of care for residents served in nursing homes so they can retain their direct caregivers who have been by their side throughout the pandemic.”
