On Jan. 6, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed legislation (HB 45) passed by the legislature minutes before lawmakers adjourned in December. The bill was an end-of-year package that originally included provisions from several other bills—including HB 466, which was introduced earlier last year at the behest of nursing homes and which would have imposed rate caps, registration, and reporting requirements on health care staffing firms.

ASA and its Ohio state lobbyist Andy Bowers of the Park Street Law Group waged an intense lobbying campaign to strike the rate cap and other mandates on health care staffing firms from HB 45. The final bill signed by the governor contained none of the onerous language from HB 466, but it did include a one-time payment of $350 million to nursing homes for workforce support. Nursing homes can’t use this money to pay for staff from staffing agencies, but the additional funding is expected to mitigate some of the cost pressures that precipitated last year’s attack on staffing.

Notwithstanding the additional funding, nursing homes may renew their efforts to regulate the staffing industry during the 2023 legislative session. ASA will continue to monitor developments and engage if necessary.