Providers issue brief: nursing home staffing standards: year end report-2003.

For more than a decade, lawmakers have focused on improving care in the nation's nursing homes by mandating tighter regulations for the industry. With a growing elderly population and findings that suggest a majority of nursing facilities are understaffed to the point of endangering the health of patients, states and the federal government are strengthening their resolve to crack down on delinquent facilities and introduce minimum requirements for staffing levels to improve quality of care. A common way states have chosen to impose these requirements is through minimum staff-to-patient ratios, but states also must address how to fund mandated staff increases.