On January 25, LeadingAge along with several national long-term care and health care organizations sent a coalition letter to the White House COVID-19 Response Team Coordinator, Jeffrey Zients, asking the White House to address anti-competitive price gouging practices with certain nurse-staffing agencies. The letter reiterates how COVID-19 has presented unprecedented and difficult challenges for the entire health and long-term care system and one of the biggest issues faced by all providers across the country is the dire workforce shortages. LeadingAge members have countless examples of how nurse-staffing agencies are charging exorbitant prices to desperate health providers that simply need workers.
The letter also points out that many long-term care and health care providers are paid through the Medicare and Medicaid programs, thus it is the taxpayers who are shouldering these huge price tags. And, ultimately, this price-gouging is not sustainable for providers under the current reimbursement system structure. Also, groups (such as LeadingAge in October 2021) previously urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate this conduct as a violation of our antitrust or consumer protection laws, and have yet to receive a response from the agency.