Ensuring Seniors’ Access to Quality Care Act

This bill amends the Medicare and Medicaid laws to change the rules for approving nursing aide training and competency evaluation programs at skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities. It updates the conditions under which a facility is disqualified from offering such programs, focusing on penalties and remedies related to quality of care.

Sec. 2, Ensuring appropriate approval for certain skilled nursing facility and nursing facility nursing aide training and competency evaluation programs under the Medicare and Medicaid program: For Medicare, the bill revises the list of disqualifying actions against a facility. It removes a reference to subparagraph (D) and adds a new condition: a facility is disqualified if it has been assessed a civil money penalty of at least $12,924 and cited for a quality-of-care deficiency, or if it has been subject to certain other remedies like appointment of a temporary manager or termination of its provider agreement. It also strikes an existing subparagraph (D). For Medicaid, the bill makes parallel changes, updating the disqualifying conditions to match the Medicare provisions, including the same civil money penalty threshold and remedy types, and striking the corresponding subparagraph (D).