As deaths rise, scrutiny soars
As the COVID-19 death toll continued to mount disproportionately among nursing home residents in mid-April, federal regulators issued historic infection and death reporting requirements.
As the COVID-19 death toll continued to mount disproportionately among nursing home residents in mid-April, federal regulators issued historic infection and death reporting requirements.
Thousands of skilled nursing workers could get “Hero Awards” for their pandemic efforts.
A Connecticut federal appeals court granted certain hospital patients the right to appeal “observation stay” designations in a ruling that many hope will lead to greater access to Medicare-covered long-term care services.
The Trump administration, in a reversal of previous guidance, recommended in early April that all Americans don “non-medical cloth” face masks in public settings. It had earlier said that Americans should not wear these coverings.
Nursing homes, not hospitals, have been the “front line” in the battle against COVID-19, though government officials and others didn’t seem to notice, skilled nursing’s top lobbyist and spokesman declared on a national television interview in April.
A legal expert urged providers to document everything related to their responses to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a move that could help providers defend themselves in any potential lawsuit stemming from their actions, she said.
Some legal aspects about publicly reporting nursing homes’ COVID-19 infection rates and deaths were being ironed out as of press time. But federal authorities made it clear in late April that facilities would be required to inform residents, families and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about outbreaks.
Tracey Moorhead, President & CEO, American Association of Post-Acute Care Nursing
An expanding coronavirus pandemic continued to devastate the long-term care sector on numerous fronts throughout the end of March and April, even before stories of massive numbers of deaths in facilities started to emerge.
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