Ensuring Seniors’ Access to Quality Care Act

This bill amends titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to revise nursing facility requirements, particularly concerning nurse aide training programs, and to expand access to the National Practitioner Data Bank. It modifies existing regulations by removing previous prohibitions that prevented certain facilities from offering nurse aide training and competency evaluation programs under Medicare and Medicaid.

Instead of blanket prohibitions, the legislation establishes new criteria for program disapproval. The Secretary of Health and Human Services is now authorized to disapprove a facility's nurse aide training program for up to two years if the facility has received a civil monetary penalty of at least $10,697 for substandard quality of care and has failed to correct the identified deficiencies. This disapproval can be rescinded if all deficiencies are remedied, the facility has not had direct patient harm deficiencies in the prior two years, and the penalty did not involve immediate jeopardy related to abuse or neglect.

Additionally, the bill broadens the scope of entities permitted to access the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB). It extends access beyond hospitals and other health care entities to include Medicare "providers of services" and "suppliers," as well as Medicaid "providers of items or services under a State plan." This change aims to enable a wider array of Medicare and Medicaid providers to conduct comprehensive employee background checks, thereby enhancing patient safety and quality of care.