Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Justice filed notice that it would appeal the Northern District of Texas April 2024 court ruling that vacated the federal staffing mandate. The presiding judge ruled that CMS lacked the authority “to issue a regulation that replaces Congress’s preferred minimum hours with its own.”
On a separate track, the US. House budget reconciliation bill that passed last month includes a 10-year delay of the staffing mandate. Repealing the mandate would save the federal government $22 billion. The U.S. Senate is now working on its version of the Reconciliation bill, and MSCA will continue to work with AHCA to advocate for the Senate’s inclusion of the House provision to delay the staffing mandate.