The $200 Million Question: Why Federal Incentives Can’t Buy More Time for Nurses

In a landmark March 2026 announcement, the federal government more than doubled its Nursing Home Staffing Campaign budget, from $75 million to $200 million. With all 50 governors invited to tap state-held Civil Monetary Penalty funds to supplement the federal contribution in tuition reimbursement, and a $10,000 stipend on the table for qualifying nurses, it represents the largest single federal commitment yet to addressing the long-term care staffing crisis.

For the administrators and Directors of Nursing contending with this shortage on the ground, however, recruitment and retention are not the same problem. 

To keep the nurses they hire, facilities need to address the root causes of burnout, and that means asking a harder question: what inefficient workflows are driving nurses out in the first place?

The Burnout Problem Federal Dollars Can’t Fix

The federal investment comes at a critical moment. Nursing homes remain the only major healthcare sector still below pre-pandemic employment levels, requiring 26,500 workers just to return to where they were in 2020. 

Despite progress, 90% of facilities still report difficulty recruiting new staff. They are competing against other care settings and private industries, many of which have more resources to offer. 

But recruitment alone doesn’t solve the burnout, which is causing nurses to leave faster than facilities can bring them in. And in a skilled nursing environment, few daily responsibilities are more taxing than the medication pass. 

A typical SNF nurse conducts multiple med passes per shift, taking time away from direct care of residents and contributing to longer hours and turnover. While the federal incentives are vital for addressing the shortage and building the pipeline, they can’t give nurses more time in their shift. Smarter pharmacy solutions can. 

The Hidden Cost of an Inefficient Medication Pass

The medication management workflow in nursing homes is one of the most time-intensive responsibilities a nurse faces each shift, and it rarely goes uninterrupted. Studies show that interruptions occur in nearly 79% of medication passes in long-term care.

Nurses spend significant portions of their shift preparing medications, logging information into electronic records, and managing everything else that pulls them away from direct care.

Improving med-pass efficiency starts with rethinking how medications are packaged and delivered. 

Clarest’s Paxit dispensing system replaces traditional 30-day blister packs with individually labeled, pre-sorted unit-dose bags: one for each resident, at each scheduled medication time, removing the preparation steps that can be more error-prone and slow nurses down.

An independent time study conducted by Plante & Moran at a Michigan skilled nursing facility found that after implementing Paxit, nurses saved between 17.5 and 28.7 minutes on medication preparation per cart pass. This is a statistically significant reduction across all patient populations. 

The Business Case for Smarter Pharmacy Technology

The facilities that will get the most out of the CMS $200M nursing home staffing investment are the ones that pair it with operational solutions that make nurse’s work more sustainable. 

According to a study by Walker-Phillips Healthcare Consulting, Clarest’s Paxit system offers measurable returns across multiple areas:

• Lower Labor Cost: Facilities report reduced overtime and turnover among medication administration staff after implementing Paxit. 
• Reduced Drug Spend: An independent actuarial review found average drug cost savings of approximately 11% of total drug spend; at least $32 per member per month.
• Improved Safety: Facilities that implemented Paxit estimated a 20% reduction in med pass errors. 
• Higher Staff Satisfaction: Every clinician surveyed said they would not return to their prior pharmacy system after switching to Paxit. 

As one Director of Nursing from a Baltimore facility observed after implementing Paxit, medication pass times dropped from two hours to just over one, directly reducing nursing salaries and overtime costs. 

Protecting SNF Hires

The $200 million federal investment is a meaningful step toward addressing long-term care’s most pressing staffing challenges. What happens next depends on the facility. When nurses spend shift after shift managing inefficient workflows, burnout compounds and turnover follows. No federal incentive can fix this.

The facilities that protect their hires pair federal investment with operational solutions that make nursing in long-term care sustainable. Paxit is just one of the ways Clarest helps facilities achieve this

Contact us to find out how facilities like yours are saving up to 28 minutes per cart pass and what that means for your nurses and your bottom line.