Nothing I have written lately has generated more heartfelt response than my articles about family members who, due to the covid-19 pandemic, are unable to visit their loved ones in long-term care facilities. And the writers are consistent: They want to visit, no matter the risk. Here are just some of the emails I’ve received in the past few weeks: [...]
We are beginning to learn which nursing homes are most likely to be hit with COVID-19. And while studies are preliminary and based on very limited data, they tell a troubling story: Location and the race of residents matter a lot. But they also tell a surprising story: Quality (at least as measured by Medicare), the share of Medicaid residents, [...]
“When will I be allowed to visit my mother again?” That’s been the question on the minds of the families of millions of residents of nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other senior communities who effectively have been locked down since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold two months ago. Yesterday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) put out [...]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) appears to be preparing to allow nursing homes to open their doors to families and other visitors, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. If not done carefully, this would be folly, and could put residents, staff, and families at risk. The new rules, which still are under consideration, would reverse March 16 CMS guidance [...]
Could all those COVID-19 nursing home deaths have been prevented? No. Could some of them have been prevented? Certainly. And many more can be prevented in the future. How? With more testing, with better testing that produces rapid results, with more personal protective equipment (PPE) and better staff training in how to use it, with far better management of staff [...]
Someday, most of us will return to life before COVID-19. Nursing homes will not. The deaths of more than 16,000 of their residents from COVID-19 has profoundly disrupted senior living facilities--especially nursing homes-- and will drive historic change in the industry. Robert Kramer, president of the consulting firm Nexus Insights and a long-time observer of nursing home finances, told me, [...]
With great fanfare, President Trump announced yesterday that his administration would deliver about two weeks’ worth of masks to nursing homes by the Fourth of July . And he’d stand up a commission to study quality and safety in nursing homes. All just in time to celebrate May as “Older Americans Month.” The masks apparently are going only to nursing [...]
The headlines are eye-opening: On Friday, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that, as of as of April 23, there were more than 10,000 reported deaths from COVID-19 in long-term care facilities—in just the 23 states that publicly report this information. That may be shocking. But it should not be surprising. COVID-19 has exposed and amplified our profoundly flawed system of [...]
The Trump Administration has finally said it would require nursing homes to report cases of COVID-19 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and, eventually, to families of residents. The move is welcome, but it is far too little and, for many families, far too late. On Friday, The New York Times reported that more than 36,500 residents [...]
Nursing homes and other senior living facilities are not the only places where COVID-19 is creating a health care crisis for frail older adults and their care providers. The other setting at risk: private homes, where the vast majority of older adults get both personal and post-acute care. And the pandemic is creating enormous challenges for those seniors, their families, [...]