COLUMBUS — Stricter nursing home guidelines the state Health Department is to recommend this week are considered too harsh by representatives of the homes and not strict enough by advocates for the elderly.

        The guidelines, to be introduced Thursday, will replace rules that fall below new federal minimum standards and haven't been updated in 27 years.

        The suggested new standard would require a daily average of 2.75 hours of di rect care per resident, up from 1.6 hours.

        Nursing home industry officials succeeded in May in delaying the effect of the guidelines, which they consider to be a costly, unfair mandate.

        “Our members are struggling financially,” Peter Van Runkle, president of the Ohio Health Care Association, told The Columbus Dispatch.

        Mr. Van Runkle favors a House bill that would establish a task force to make recommendations on how to better recruit, train and pay long-term health care workers.

        He said requiring more staff members could cost the industry millions of dollars at a time when its associated costs, such as insurance, are rising.

        Sarah Burger, executive director of the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform in Washington, said it's crucial for Ohio and other states to increase care requirements now.

        Many are doing so in response to a study by the federal Health Care Financing Administration that set two hours as a minimum standard for nursing home care.

        “The industry was pretty much in denial until that came out,” Ms. Burger said. “It found that 54 percent of the facilities in the U.S. do not have enough staff to prevent harm.”

        State health officials describe the proposed new guidelines as a common-sense approach that would guarantee a standard of care most Ohio nursing homes already meet.

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