To improve the quality issues in nursing homes — many of which pre-dated COVID-19 but were brought into a harsh spotlight because of the pandemic — the entire system of skilled nursing care needs to be completely overhauled, according to one physician in the space. “I believe that our consistent failures in nursing home quality […]
Two top federal agencies called for a halt on using the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine for COVID-19 after rare blood clots were reported — a pause that has the potential to slow the flow of vaccines to long-term care facilities for ongoing immunization efforts. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on April 8 that it is ending several emergency regulatory waivers that were designed to give nursing homes flexibility in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic — specifically related to patient transfers and discharges, as well as the timeframe requirements for completing and transmitting a patient’s Minimum […]
For nursing home staff who are hesitant about taking a vaccine for COVID-19, data and information may not be the most effective way to address their concerns, according to a report published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The report, published on March 25, used a series of 26 town hall meetings from […]
It all started gradually. In the month of February 2020, officials in the soon-to-be pandemic epicenter of New York City fielded 41 requests for personal protective equipment (PPE) from a range of entities, including hospitals, the fire department, and a handful of nursing homes. Specifically, 14 requests for PPE were made in February by skilled […]
In the investment and finance side of skilled nursing, “regional” is commonly cited as a strength for an operator; the idea is that a strong presence in a concentrated geography allows for better relationships with hospitals and referral partners, physicians, and the community generally. But thinking regionally goes beyond the financial well-being of a facility, […]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this week announced that it would invest more than $12 billion in expanding testing for COVID-19, with a $255 million contract for the production and delivery of 50 million rapid point-of-care antigen tests to long-term care facilities. The contract covers 50 million Abbott BinaxNOW tests “to support […]
The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday held a hearing on the impact of COVID-19 on nursing homes, and witnesses from the frontlines to the academic sphere testified to the fact that the pandemic exacerbated problems that long predated the novel coronavirus. And while the hearing contained its share of partisan talking points — ranging from […]
One of the scarcest resources in any workplace setting is time, and for nursing homes, one of the casualties of this scarce resource tends to be the position of infection preventionist. This usually takes the form of adding the duties of an IP to an already existing role in the nursing home workplace, and in […]
The clinical effects of COVID-19 on the skilled nursing world have been apparent since the start of pandemic, and roughly a year into the public health emergency in the U.S., firm data about the financial health of the space is emerging — particularly as stimulus funding for providers remains uncertain. For the Georgia-based operator PruittHealth, […]
When emergency use authorizations (EUA) were granted to two COVID-19 vaccines in December 2020, health care workers and residents in long-term care facilities were granted first priority for the shots — and a federal partnership to vaccinate nursing homes kicked into gear. By January 25, most nursing homes participating in the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term […]
Officials in New York last November began working to launch a handful of nursing homes designated for COVID-19 patients only — after a firestorm of criticism for a directive in the spring of 2020 that sent COVID-19 patients to any nursing home at all. The Manhattan campus of the New Jewish Home in became one […]
The vaccination efforts against COVID-19 that began in late December have begun to bear fruit in the form of steep declines of new COVID-19 cases and deaths among nursing home residents, one of the largest nursing home trade groups reported Tuesday. And with new cases dropping by 82% among nursing home residents — who have […]
The day-to-day operations of running a skilled nursing facility, were upended by the COVID-19 pandemic — along with the core business model of post-acute and long-term care in America. For many operators, the pandemic has exposed the flaws and systemic challenges of the space, both on the regulatory and operating sides. And as cases continue […]
Two of the largest trade associations for nursing homes announced a goal of vaccinating approximately 75% of the roughly 1.5 million nursing home workers across the U.S. by the end of June. The American Health Care Association (AHCA), which represents more than 14,000 primarily for-profit nursing homes and long-term care facilities, and LeadingAge, which represents […]
Embroiled in an ongoing scandal about the state’s handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced reform legislation that would require full disclosure of facility ownership and place caps on both profits and executive pay. “Facilities have put profits over care for far too long and as we look forward, we […]
COVID-19 outbreaks in skilled nursing facilities are affected by more than geography, and nursing home operators have tools and actions they can take to mitigate the spread of the virus in their facilities, the Center for Medicare Advocacy (CMA) argued in a report released on Thursday. “Since the start of the pandemic, one of the […]
The push to vaccinate nursing home residents and staff that has unfolded across the U.S. over the course of late December and January appears to be having some effect, at least in the number of COVID-19 cases among residents. From January 3 to January 31, COVID-19 cases among nursing home residents went from 26,860 to […]
Long-term acute care (LTAC) hospitals proved themselves a critical part of the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic while also gaining a share of the patients discharged to facility-based care by short-term acute hospitals — even as the share of those patients going to the skilled nursing setting declined. A new report, published February […]
Good infection control standards are the same for skilled nursing facilities across the U.S. — both in the sense of federally mandated requirements, and in the sense of the concrete conditions that are necessary to prevent the spread of contamination. This was true even before a pandemic that shook the world in 2020, with ongoing […]