Bill > S1612

Introduced Session

This bill establishes minimum ratios for the number of certified nurse aides (CNAs) to the number of residents in nursing homes. Under current regulations, the Department of Health requires nursing homes to meet a minimum number of hours of direct care staff-to-resident time per day. Under the bill, CNA-to-resident ratios will be as follows: (1) one CNA for every eight residents on the day shift; (2) one CNA for every 10 residents on the evening shift; and (3) one CNA for every 16 residents on the night shift. The bill sets forth a methodology for computing the appropriate ratio, and provides that a nursing home that experiences an increase in resident census is exempt from increasing the number of CNAs for nine consecutive shifts. Nothing in the bill would affect any other minimum staffing requirements as may be mandated by the Commissioner of Health for nursing home staff other than CNAs, and nothing in the bill would prohibit a nursing home from establishing staffing levels above the established minimum.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Vin Gopal (D)*,  Brian Stack (D)*,  Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D),  Sandra Cunningham (D),  Patrick Diegnan (D),  Linda Greenstein (D),  Shirley Turner (D), 

Recommitted to Assembly Appropriations Committee (on 12/12/2019)