AGING
TWO CALLS FOR NURSING HOME REFORMS
T
here is no doubt that COVID-19 was devastating in long-term care facilities with significant sickness, hospitalization and even death among staff and residents. Why? One reason is that most nursing home residents are over 80 and have multiple preexisting conditions. In addition, nursing home leaders point out that the federal help to nursing homes was late and insufficient. They were among the last to get personal protective equipment (PPE) and information about how to fight the disease. While some blamed poor quality in nursing homes, research eventually revealed that the volume of COVID in nursing homes actually mirrored the rate of the virus in communities: when it was in communities, it was in its nursing homes.1 As the pandemic receded, safety and quality of care, which stated: “The pandemic has highlighted the tragic imtwo efforts were announced to improve nursing home quality pact of substandard conditions at nursing homes, and to prevent the COVID ex- which are home to many of our most at-risk comperience from being repeated. munity members. More than 1.4 million peoA fact sheet released earlier this ple live in over 15,500 Medicare- and Medicaidyear by the White House, called certified nursing homes across the nation. In the “Protecting Seniors by Improv- past two years, more than 200,000 residents and JULIE ing Safety and Quality of Care in staff in nursing homes have died from COVID-19 the Nation’s Nursing Homes,”2 — nearly a quarter of all COVID-19 deaths in the TROCCHIO revealed how the federal govern- United States.”4 ment — through regulation and policy changes — inWhile some blamed poor quality in nursing tends to address nursing homes, research eventually revealed that home quality. Soon after, the National Academies of the volume of COVID in nursing homes Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine published the actually mirrored the rate of the virus in results of its study, The Nacommunities: when it was in communities, tional Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality: it was in its nursing homes. Honoring Our Commitment to Residents, Families, and Staff.3 Both efforts are aimed at setting the path The federal reforms proposed are aimed at forward to reform our nation’s nursing home care. improving the quality and safety of nursing home care, enhancing oversight and accountability, and making facility ownership more transparent. FEDERAL PROPOSALS During this year’s State of the Union address, President Joe Biden announced that he will be propos- Improving Care ing a set of nursing home reforms for the Depart- Four new initiatives are directed at improving ment of Health and Human Services (HHS) and quality care. First, HHS will study the adequacy its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of nursing staffing and consider strengthening (CMS) to implement. These were outlined in the minimum staffing levels. (Currently, some states White House fact sheet related to nursing home go beyond the federal staffing requirements of
HEALTH PROGRESS
www.chausa.org
SUMMER 2022
61
