The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Sunday released its “COVID-19 Strategic Testing Plan” to Congress, and argued that a targeted testing strategy “based on diagnosis, contact tracing, and smart surveillance” is the best solution to allow the country to emerge from pandemic-inducted lockdowns. The report, which was released as part of requirements […]
Category: COVID-19
Amid the national emergency caused by COVID-19, infection control in skilled nursing facilities has come under intense scrutiny, with past violations examined under the media microscope — and surveys from the government focused solely on the issue. That scrutiny is only likely to increase due to the challenge nursing homes face trying to contain COVID-19 […]
New York City is offering free testing for COVID-19 at nursing homes after reports of difficulty accessing the tests at many skilled nursing facilities, the Associated Press reported May 20. The city will, starting next week, provide test kits and pay to process them for any of the city’s 169 nursing homes, Mayor Bill de […]
Without the funds and the resources needed to meet COVID-19 testing recommendations, the federal government’s guidance on reopening nursing homes could create more confusion for skilled nursing facilities — and more challenges on top of the considerable strain they already face in combating the spread of the illness. “At a high level, I really think […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released guidelines on reopening nursing homes on Monday, with parameters around testing requirements and visitation — while emphasizing that nursing facilities will be among the last institutions that can safely reopen as the U.S. takes tentative steps toward moving out of COVID-19-induced lockdowns. CMS announced that states […]
Staffing shortages were a problem for skilled nursing facilities well before the current national emergency, but COVID-19’s behavior has exacerbated the challenges. Asymptomatic workers who moved from facility to facility — and who, by nature of their work, from patient to patient — were a major part of the reason the Life Care Center of […]
Fitch Ratings on Wednesday revised its rating outlook for Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL) to “Negative,” down from “Stable,” while affirming the rating at “BBB+.” The Toledo, Ohio-based Welltower has a portfolio in which senior housing facilities accounted for 62% of net operating income as of March 31, while skilled nursing facilities account for about 15% […]
House Democrats on Tuesday introduced a major aid package with a provision that would indefinitely delay the implementation of a controversial rule that imperiled billions in Medicaid funding for skilled nursing facilities. The bill also would boost the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), or Washington’s share of state Medicaid rates, by 14% — up from […]
As the U.S. fights to get the COVID-19 virus under control, nursing homes have emerged as a key front lines in the battle. But one of the largest skilled nursing and senior care operators in the country still struggles to secure sufficient testing. Skilled Nursing News caught up with George Hager, the president and CEO […]
Several of the major health care real estate investment trusts (REITs) have responded to the challenges and upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic by withdrawing their earnings guidance for the year — a move that’s entirely understandable given the number of unknowns about the impact of the resulting emergency on tenants. But the San Clemente, Calif.-based […]
The enormous financial and clinical fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has upended the skilled nursing world with particular force, but one major senior housing and care real estate investment trust (REIT) CEO believes that the situation could have been worse. In fact, it’s a credit to the Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM), which took effect last […]
The nursing home chain HCR ManorCare has — like many other skilled nursing operators — been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic still moving through the U.S. And like many other operators, it’s struggling to find the needed personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing kits, despite mandates from multiple states requiring testing and full stockpiles […]
For more than two months now, Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation CEO Stuart Almer has been on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle, running a 460-bed nursing home in the suburbs of New York City — a region that has borne the brunt of the coronavirus impact in the United States so far. That […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Friday released an interim final rule that, among other provisions, will require nursing homes to begin reporting detailed COVID-19 information to the federal government this week. While CMS and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) had previously announced the requirement — after weeks of […]
Major skilled nursing operator PruittHealth last week announced that it was entering a partnership with a coalition of providers to expand COVID-19 testing at its facilities across Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina. The partnership was about a month in the making — and it highlights the difficult timeline SNF operators have faced as […]
Real estate investment trusts (REITs) with a focus on health care are facing risks on all fronts related to the COVID-19 pandemic, but those with investments in senior housing could see the most significant challenges — and their skilled nursing tenants might actually be better poised to come back from the brink, according to an […]
With personal protective equipment (PPE) in short supply across the country, skilled nursing facilities have felt left out in efforts to bolster health care capacity in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic — even though by most measures, they are arguably on the front lines of the battle to contain the illness caused by the […]
To combat and contain the COVID-19 pandemic, testing has emerged as the both a lynchpin and one of the most of the significant pain points. This is true for all parts of the health care continuum in the U.S., but for skilled nursing facilities, the need for widespread testing is acute, given how swiftly the […]
Over the years, nursing home operators have found themselves in the spotlight for negative reasons — usually in the wake of isolated stories of abuse and neglect, or tales of owners who bilked the government for money at the expense of quality care. But the industry has never been at the center of national conversation, […]
Almost two months after the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in a nursing home, a new study confirms what several others have indicated: People infected with COVID-19 can contribute to transmission of the illness without showing any symptoms. The most recent findings on the asymptomatic spread of the virus in nursing homes, published online […]