Republicans in the New York state Senate this week unveiled their own plans for boosting staffing at nursing homes, arguing these measures are non-partisan, and should get consideration from the majority Democrats who hold power in Albany. 

"It came from our conference, but I find it hard to believe that there aren't some Democratic colleagues who wouldn't look at these proposals and say, 'yeah, these are things we need to be looking at,'" said Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt said. 

The proposals address staffing in the critical nursing home and long-term care facility fields after 20 months of the COVID-19 pandemic has made a fragile staffing system even more precarious. 

The plan calls for cost-of-living adjustments for pay in the direct care workforce, as well as addressing Medicaid reimbursement rates. 

"If you're not able to compete on a wage standpoint, all this other stuff may sound great, but no one is going to go in there because they feel like it's a career they can feed their family on," Ortt said. 

Lawmakers also want to grow the available pool of workers by expanding the eligibility of science, technology, engineering and math scholarships for students pursuing a career in nursing, as well as create a loan forgiveness incentive for people to join the health care or the direct service provider workforce. 

"Some of this long term. We didn't get here overnight and we're probably not going to get out of here overnight," Ortt said. 

The package of potential fixes comes amid widespread concerns over the future of staffing in the health care industry as workers struggle with a pandemic and strain that some in the industry fear has led to burnout of many workers. 

"We come up with these things in Albany, but it may not be in concert or it may be detached from trends or what professionals see or what they really need," Ortt said.