New nursing home laws signed last month to prevent understaffing will only be applied starting January 1st 2022, in the mean time patients neglect continues
In New York State, many nursing home residents are neglected because the facilities are significantly understaffed. Most nursing homes are run by corporations that are more interested in increasing their shareholder profit rather than making sure their residents are proprely taken care off. Additionally, the staff is so poorly paid, between $12.50 Upstate NY to $15 an hour in New York City, that it is difficult to recruit people especially during the pandemic. In comparison, fast food workers are making $14.50 an hour in New York.
New laws signed to prevent understaffing will only take effect next year
Recently Andrew Cuomo signed new laws requiring nursing home and hospitals to form clinical staffing committees that include front-line nurses and other direct care staff when setting annual staffing standards for units. Additionally, nursing home facilities will be required to have a minimum daily average of 3 1/2 hours of nursing care per resident. These two laws will only take effect in January 22 and do not include a raise in the minimum wage for workers (read more in Healthcare Dive)