Families place their parents, grandparents, and loved ones in nursing homes because they want them to be safe. They want trained professionals who will treat them with compassion, dignity, and respect.
But for years, too many nursing homes have failed to provide even basic care. Understaffing, undertraining, and corporate cost-cutting have created a crisis that harms some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
And this week, that crisis became even more serious.
As reported by The Washington Post (Joyce Frieden, Washington Editor, MedPage Today, Dec. 2, 2025), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officially rescinded the federal minimum-staffing rule — the rule that required every nursing home to provide a basic minimum amount of nursing care and to have a Registered Nurse onsite 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The rule, enacted in 2024, required 3.48 hours of nursing care per resident per day, including RN care and nurse aide care. It was created because research shows that adequate staffing is the single most important factor in keeping residents safe.
Now, that national safety floor is gone.
Nursing home industry groups obviously celebrated the repeal. But patient-advocacy organizations expressed deep alarm, calling the decision “very disappointing.” Sam Brooks of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care warned that rescinding the rule simply returns us to the dangerous status quo where, in his words, “residents [are] suffering and dying because nursing homes are not staffed adequately.” (Washington Post/MedPage Today, Dec. 2, 2025.)
This is not fear-mongering.
It is fact.
Most cases of nursing home abuse and neglect happen because there are not enough trained staff to care for residents. When one nurse aide is responsible for 12, 15, or even 20 residents during a shift, it becomes impossible to provide the careful, hands-on attention frail seniors need. Understaffing leads directly to preventable tragedies:
- Falls that no one sees
• Untreated infections
• Bedsores that turn into open wounds
• Dehydration and malnutrition
• Medication errors
• Hours spent alone, in pain, waiting for help
Adequate staffing protects residents from harm. Removing staffing requirements does the opposite.
HHS officials argued that the rule would “burden” rural and tribal facilities and impede patient access. But advocacy groups strongly reject that claim, noting that there is no evidence rural facilities cannot meet staffing standards, especially because the rule included exceptions for homes with legitimate hiring challenges.
The real issue, as many experts note, is that many nursing homes struggle to recruit and retain staff because working conditions are poor and wages are low. Repealing staffing rules does not solve that problem. It simply gives facilities permission to operate with fewer workers — even when residents desperately need more care, not less.
The people paying the price are our loved ones.
The decision to rescind the rule sends a clear message: the federal government will not enforce even the most basic safety standards in nursing homes. Families will now have to be even more vigilant. They must check staffing levels, watch for warning signs of neglect, and refuse to accept excuses.
We need stronger laws, not weaker ones. We need accountability, not loopholes. We need to protect seniors, not corporations.
Called “pioneers in Connecticut nursing home abuse litigation” (Lawdragon, July 16, 2025), we have been fighting the good fight for abused and neglected nursing home patients for over 35 years, and we believe that this is a turning point.
And unless we take action, it will be remembered as the moment the crisis in nursing home care grew even worse.
