The federal agency that regulates nursing homes, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will require facilities to publicly report covid-19 vaccination rates for staff and residents starting May 21. The rule is likely to press operators to boost staff vaccine rates to at least the 75 percent rate that industry trade groups have set as a goal Some [...]
In his American Jobs Plan, President Biden has proposed increasing federal support for home-based long-term care by a staggering $400 billion over eight years. A $50 billion annual increase would represent a roughly 40 percent increase in the $129 billion Medicaid spent on long-term care in 2018 and a 70 percent increase in that year’s home and community-based services (HCBS) [...]
For months, families and operators of long-term care facilities have been telling me about the indirect toll the covid-19 pandemic has taken on residents. Not on those who have sickened or died from the virus, but on those whose quality of life has been severely harmed by the social isolation it caused. Now, we are beginning to learn more about [...]
In the wake of the devastating effects of covid-19 on nursing home residents and their staffs, pressure is building on long-term care facilities from congressional Democrats who are exploring ways to accelerate the shift of Medicaid long-term services and supports from nursing facilities to home and community based services (HCBS). Some states are demanding tougher health and safety rules. And [...]
As of Monday, only about 22 percent of the covid-19 vaccine doses that have been distributed for use in long-term care facilities have made their way into the arms of residents and staff. As has been well documented, these residents—nearly all with pre-existing medical conditions and functional and cognitive impairment-- are the most vulnerable to serious illness and death from [...]
The statistics simply are staggering. More than 728,000 residents and staff of long-term care facilities have contracted covid-19 over the past nine months. More than 100,000 have died—a number that has doubled since June. That is equal to roughly the entire population of San Mateo CA, or Green Bay WI. Four of every 10 covid-19 deaths in the US have [...]
In his campaign, President-elect Joe Biden promised a wide range of policy changes aimed at supporting older adults, including paid leave and tax credits for families caring for older adults, significantly more funding for Medicaid community-based long-term services and supports, and significant reforms to Social Security The question will be how much can he get done, given other priorities and [...]
What has it been like to live in a nursing home during the covid-19 pandemic? Because access to facilities is so limited, it is hard to know. But, for the first time, a survey of residents tells a grim story of loneliness and isolation: 90 percent said they never left their campus, 60 percent said they never even went outside [...]
The illness and death that covid-19 has brought to older adults has created an historic opportunity for the US to rethink the way it delivers and pays for long-term care. Yet, much of the long-term care industry and even many advocates for older adults and younger people with disabilities are lobbying for short-term fixes, not real reform. Nursing homes and [...]
Two years ago, the Trump Administration quietly began a review of the nation’s long-term care (LTC) insurance system, focused primarily on ways to enhance private coverage. This week, just as quietly, an administration task force released its report. Unfortunately, for the most part, the group was unwilling to commit to any meaningful changes to a badly broken system. It made [...]