Let’s face it. Unless you’re the character Sheldon from the show “The Big Bang Theory” or “Young Sheldon,” most of us really hate to take tests.
So, those of us in this profession got a little excited when we heard that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was rethinking that COVID-19 testing might be based on community numbers.
And sure enough, the CDC announced on Feb. 25 that they have changed the metrics used to determine personal and community COVID-19 prevention measures based on community spread.
Oh joy, you thought. Maybe we can cut down some of this time we spend shoving swabs up people’s noses.
NO, of course not! The CDC says that this change does not apply to healthcare settings because the consequences of spread and risk of triggering outbreaks is greater. OK, I get that we are a high-risk setting. Of course, we are. We have the nation’s most vulnerable in our care.
But aren’t frail elderly people in assisted livings (yeah, I know, testing depends on state guidance) and how about children under 5 who can’t get vaccinated, living in the community? Aren’t they vulnerable too? Are they expendable? Of course not. Not sure why we have the double standard of this new testing that is based on science and math.
Annnnd… aren’t our settings the ones where everyone has to be vaccinated or have a valid exemption? And if they have an exemption, aren’t they wearing an N95 or KN95 and other appropriate PPE? Like, how safe can you get? But, no, let’s test, test and test more!
So, we are to continue to follow CDC’s recommendations for healthcare settings. The problem is, many of us are still testing twice a week. Can you say time and expense? So what little staff we have are being tested by what little staff we have. And while we are in crisis staffing mode in many facilities, and our staff can work if testing positive but asymptomatic, heck, they are optioning to stay home because OHSA says they can stay home and we have to pay them to stay home and not work even though they are healthy enough to work and replace them with gut-wrenching, high-cost agency personnel.
Oh, joy.
Yeah, so now you have to get more agency staff and pay more millions for people who don’t care about you, your culture, your residents, or anything but getting paid, and buy tons more testing supplies (if you can get them). Oh, but there is provider stimulus money, right?
Well, according to LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan, the latest round of provider relief fund payments funded less than 45% of providers’ reported COVID-related lost revenues and expenses through the first quarter of 2021.
I mean every one of our costs has gone up. Gloves that used to cost 4 cents a piece are now 11 cents each, food costs have skyrocketed, DME costs are through the roof and don’t get me started again on agency costs.
But you know what hasn’t gone up? Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement. As a matter of fact, isn’t there some talk that CMS wants to decrease our Medicare rate?
So come on, government entities, please. Help us out a bit here. How about testing yourselves and see what you can do to lower our costs and increase our funding. Just saying!
Just keeping it real,
Nurse Jackie
The Real Nurse Jackie is written by Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC, Senior Director of Clinical Innovation and Education for Mission Health Communities, LLC and an APEX Award of Excellence winner for Blog Writing. Vance is a real-life long-term care nurse. A nationally respected nurse educator and past national LTC Nurse Administrator of the Year, she also is an accomplished stand-up comedienne. The opinions supplied here are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer or her professional affiliates.
The opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News guest submissions are the author’s and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Long-Term Care News or its editors.
