On Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed 42 bills, including HB 1239 – one that will change nursing home staffing standards and ultimately reduce the care these facilities provide to residents.
The debatable aspect of the bill centers on certified nursing assistants (CNAs), who provide much of the direct care to residents in nursing homes. The current law requires certified nursing assistants to provide a minimum of 2.5 hours of direct care to each resident a day. The new bill reduces the hours of direct care to just 2 hours per day.
As the law stands currently, certified nursing assistants and licensed nurses are required to provide a weekly average of 3.6 hours of direct care to each patient in a nursing home per day. This new law keeps that average, but allows for time spent by other workers, like occupational and physical therapists, to count towards that 3.6 calculation.