Sponsors (7)
Official title: Amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act with respect to nursing facility requirements, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 30, 2026 by Mark R. Warner · Last progress April 30, 2026
The bill strengthens oversight and background screening to improve patient safety and accountability in training and hiring, at the cost of increased administrative burdens, potential staffing and access disruptions for long-term care, and heightened privacy/employment risks for practitioners.
Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, seniors, and long-term care residents face a lower risk of poor care because facilities with repeated serious deficiencies can have facility-run nurse aide training programs disapproved for up to two years, creating stronger consequences for persistently poor performance.
States and HHS gain a clearer enforcement tool to hold facilities accountable for training quality, while facilities that remedy deficiencies and avoid harm for two years have a defined pathway to regain program approval, creating incentives to improve care.
Hospitals, providers, and suppliers can screen job applicants against the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) to avoid hiring practitioners with prior sanctions or malpractice findings, which should improve patient safety.
Hospitals, providers, suppliers, state governments, and taxpayers will face increased administrative and compliance costs (and potential hiring/credentialing delays) from the new oversight, rescission processes, and expanded background-check requirements.
Facilities whose training programs are disapproved may experience short-term staffing shortages and a reduced local supply of certified nurse aides, which could raise care costs or reduce access for Medicare/Medicaid beneficiaries and seniors.
Expanding NPDB access increases the risk that practitioners' disciplinary histories will be misused or improperly disclosed, harming privacy and employment prospects for health care workers.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Gives HHS new authority to disapprove facility-run nurse aide training programs tied to specified civil monetary penalties and expands NPDB access to Medicare/Medicaid providers and suppliers.
Removes certain delegation exceptions for nurse aide training and competency evaluation programs under Medicare and Medicaid and gives the HHS Secretary a new authority to disapprove facility-run nurse aide training or competency evaluation programs for up to two years when a facility has been assessed a civil monetary penalty for substandard quality of care and has not corrected the deficiencies. The Secretary must rescind disapproval once specified remediation and safety conditions are met, and must issue implementing regulations within 180 days. Expands which entities may query the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) for employee background checks by adding Medicare/Medicaid providers and suppliers to the existing list of hospitals and health care entities, updating statutory cross-references accordingly.