By any definition, Clif Porter, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), has gotten off to a successful start in his first year as the leader of the skilled nursing sector’s trade group in Washington, DC.

Victories have come fast and furious, most recently with the demise of the much-dreaded staffing mandate formulated under the Biden Administration’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and before that the exclusion of nursing homes from the massive Medicaid cuts in President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

In a conversation with his former boss, Mark Parkinson, on the “Let’s Talk” segment of the new web platform Park Place Live that Parkinson has started with Zimmet Healthcare, the now leader of AHCA/NCAL makes clear that more victories are needed to help nursing home operators continue to provide high quality care for the nation’s seniors.

For instance, the association is focused on regulatory changes. Porter said many of the rules and regulations covering nursing homes have not changed since their inception in 1965, and there is a need to “rationalize” what have become irrational regulations for the industry’s caregivers.

That means putting care improvement as the top goal instead of rounds of punitive measures, Porter said.

On AHCA/NCAL’s recent wins, Porter cites the association’s credibility with policymakers earned over the years as a major contributing factor, as well as the fact member facilities possess connections to lawmakers.

“We’ve been fortunate. We have very active members and owners across the country who are practically in every county in America,” he said. “There are levels of relationships that some of our folks have [to lawmakers]” that other industries cannot replicate.

Watch the complete interview on Park Place Live at https://myzpax.com/parkplace?state=videos%2Fcmg8964lk0001zazy1y11yl3u.

Any questions or comments? Contact Patrick Connole at pconnole@parkplacelive.com.