McKnight’s reported on the latest pandemic relief package. Half a billion dollars in funding will help nursing homes prevent and limit the spread of COVID-19 in their facilities. Infection control funds will support nursing home strike teams. Nursing homes have been petri dishes for infectious diseases. A Government Accountability Office report found 80 percent of
Occupancy Declines Fox Business reported that families continue to choose home health and other options to avoid nursing homes. COVID-19 has reshaped the future of the nursing home industry. Americans rely on institutions to care for vulnerable seniors. Nursing-home use in the U.S. has been declining gradually for years. In 2019, occupancy was 80%, down
New Leadership Chiquita Brooks-LaSure would be the first Black woman to head CMS. CMS administers Medicare, Medicaid, children’s health insurance and the Affordable Care Act, better known as “Obamacare.” The programs cover more than 130 million people, from newborns to nursing home residents. Brooks-LaSure was previously deputy director at CMS responsible for insurance markets during the
Things seem to be improving. Newly reported coronavirus cases in the U.S. remained under 80,000 for the fourth day in a row, while hospitalizations fell to their lowest level since Nov. 10. The latest vaccination update also had some good news. The Biden Administration hoped to give shots to one million Americans per day. The
Rhode Island Senate passed legislation requiring safe staffing levels at nursing homes. This will help overstretched staff, increase quality, and prevent delays in care. The bill requires nursing homes to have enough licensed nurses and nurses-assistants to provide 4.1 hours of direct care to each resident every day. Both the unions that have pushed for
The Christian Science Monitor had an interesting article asking how nursing homes could have handled the pandemic better. What lessons were learned? The question is whether nursing homes could have done better – and can do better going forward. Only with better and safer staffing. The bottom line is that nursing homes that have worse
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