A new report studying nursing home populations during the pandemic shows that four in 10 Medicare recipients in nursing homes had or likely had COVID-19 in 2020. The report additionally found that deaths overall jumped by 32% compared to 2019.
The report, conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is part of an Office of Inspector General initiative focusing on nursing homes and COVID-19.
It initially identified who resided in nursing homes based on the Minimum Data Set (MDS), then drew from the Medicare enrollment database using the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) integrated data repository to focus the analysis on nursing home Medicare beneficiaries.
The report found that mortality in nursing homes increased to 22% in 2020, up from 17% in 2019, despite a smaller population. Each month in 2020 had a higher mortality rate than the corresponding month in 2019.
The 32% increase in mortality rate amounted to nearly 170,000 more deaths, the report noted.
About 6% of the U.S. population reported having been infected with COVID-19 by the end of December. That number climbed to 42% for nursing homes.
However, case counts at nursing homes didn’t start to escalate until April of last year.
The number of cases in nursing homes increased tenfold from March to April 2020, with 492 Medicare beneficiary cases reported per day in March, to more than 4,700 new cases per day in April.
It also marked a tragic month for deaths at these facilities.
In April 2020, 6.3% of all Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes died, whereas 3.5% died in April 2019.
Some residents, states hit harder than others
Some Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes seemed to be at greater risk than others.
Specifically, Black beneficiaries, Hispanic beneficiaries and Asian beneficiaries were more likely than white beneficiaries to have or likely have COVID-19. Dually eligible beneficiaries — or those enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid — also had significantly higher rates of infections.
CMS research from March 2020 shows “duals” are generally poorer, sicker and economically poorer, compared to other Medicare beneficiaries.
Some states were also hit harder than others, according to the HHS report with more than half of the Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes in Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana and New Jersey suspected to have had COVID-19 by the end of last year.
Companies featured in this article:
Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
