Officials with several senior living and long-term care facilities met with Kansas lawmakers in Wichita to talk about the challenges and issues they have been facing.
A meeting was held at Wichita Presbyterian Manor with Kansas House member John Carmichael, state senator Mary Ware and a policy staff member from the office of U.S. Senator Roger Marshall. The gathering was hosted by LeadingAge Kansas, an association of 160 nonprofit agencies.
LeadingAge director of government affairs Kylee Childs said in a press release that the event was held to give agencies a chance to do more grass-roots advocacy for the issues affecting providers.
There are concerns about staffing shortages and a lack of nurses entering the workforce. A proposed federal rule on minimum staffing calls for nursing home providers to have a registered nurse on site 24/7, and there are minimum staffing ratios for the number of registered nurse hours per resident per day. Kansas would need an additional 109 registered nurses to meet the 24/7 provision and an additional 51 RNs and 369 Certified Nursing Aides to meet the ratio requirements. The rule does not count the number of licensed practical nurses, and the ratio requirement would force nursing home LPNs to return to school or find another job.
