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At the high end, 95% of residents in South Dakota are fully vaccinated, and 70% are up to date. The rate of resident cases in the week ending December 4 is the highest since early February, during last winter’s Omicron surge. Most facilities now meet criteria for in person visitation because there are no outbreaks.
The CDC publishes a Nursing Home COVID-19 Data Dashboard and Nursing Home Vaccination Data Dashboard that are updated weekly and include several key data points at the state and national level. The rate of resident cases is up 63% and the rate of staff cases is up 70% in the week ending December 4, compared to the last week of the dashboard. AARP sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services asking officials to strengthen enforcement of quality standards to protect the 1.3 million Americans living in nursing homes.
AARP Urges Feds to Strengthen Nursing Home Protections
For example, in some cases a state might opt to defer to the federal government for penalizing a nursing home violation, because the federal penalties would be greater than the state’s. But if federal enforcement of those penalties is weakened, the health and safety of nursing home residents are jeopardized. That’s why AARP is fighting to put the safety and well-being of nursing home residents first by asking lawmakers to pass nursing home reform legislation. The first reporting date for the CMS Nursing Home COVID-19 data was May 24, 2020, and includes all cases and deaths that were reported since the beginning of the year; however, retroactive reporting is not mandatory, and the accuracy of reporting at the state level is unknown. Vaccination data were first reported for the week ending May 30, 2021, and are mandated as of the week ending June 13, 2021.
With a winter surge possibly already underway, more than 600,000 residents and more than 1.5 million staff are NOT up to date on vaccinations, leaving them without full protection from COVID-19. “AARP thanks the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for providing updated guidance that allows easier in-person visitation at nursing homes while continuing to emphasize infection prevention and control practices for facilities, visitors and others. Please join us in urging state lawmakers to take immediate action to ensure that staffing levels in long-term care facilities are adequate. The declining number of cases in long-term care settings means many facilities can resume indoor visitation. Medicare certified skilled-nursing facilities must meet additional criteria required by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Making nursing homes safe to visit again
The CARES Act relief bill included virtual visitation for federal prisoners, but there were no similar provisions for seniors in nursing homes or other long-term care facilities. The state fact sheets include several measures of the percentage of total state deaths and cases that occurred among nursing home residents and nursing home staff. Because the denominator data is from a different source, the reported data may result in a percentage less than 0% or greater than 100%, which is impossible. The value of each such measure is capped at 100%, and values of less than 0% are marked as NA. These measures should not be used to compute the number of cases or deaths occurring outside of nursing homes.
Combat often-fatal isolation by connecting residents with their families through virtual visitation. Require nursing home owners to put the majority of taxpayer funding toward direct care for residents—and report this spending. The percentage of facilities in Texas reporting a shortage of nurses or aides decreased slightly to nearly 14 percent in the four weeks ending March 20. Rates of COVID-19 deaths and cases in nursing homes have declined dramatically in Texas and nationwide as the Omicron wave recedes, according to AARP’s Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard, covering the four-week period ending March 20.
Don't Wait Until You Need a Nursing Home to Do Research
Make sure confirmed COVID-19 cases, deaths, and demographic data are available for residents, families – and the public – daily. Here in Texas, resident deaths were down from a rate of .45 per 100 residents in the four-week period ending February 20, to .09 per 100 residents in the four-week period ending March 20. Since June 2020, the CMS data are much more reliable and at the national level track well against data reported by the states . Aggregate counts of deaths and cases may be an undercount if there are facilities that are not reporting. Percentages or rates might be slightly biased if the average of non-reporting facilities differs significantly from the average of reporting facilities. Yet federal policymakers were slow to respond to this crisis, and no state has done a good enough job to stem the loss of life.
Arizona’s rates are the lowest across the board, with only 74% of residents vaccinated, 58% boosted, and 26% up to date. As of mid-November, 87% of nursing home residents were fully vaccinated and 75% had gotten at least one booster shot; however, only 45% were up to date on vaccinations with the bivalent booster. The rates of resident deaths and resident cases during the 4 weeks ending November 20 are up moderately compared to the previous 4 weeks, while staff cases are up slightly. More recently however, in the weeks ending November 27 and December 4, resident and staff cases are surging rapidly. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. AARP said any weakening of the federal regulations would lead to situations that would have a negative effect on safety for nursing home residents.
AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard
In Congress, the ACCESS Act (S. 3517/H.R. 6487) focuses on funding and supporting virtual visitation in nursing homes. This is appalling, and a persistent lack of transparency is compounding the anxiety of family members who are unable to visit their loved ones. Until recently, there was no federal requirement for nursing homes to report coronavirus outbreaks and COVID-19 deaths, making it impossible to understand the true scope of the problem and what steps need to be taken to protect residents and staff. Find vaccination rates of both residents and staff at any Medicare-certified nursing home and compare it to state and national averages on the Medicare.gov Care Compare website. Booster rates for nursing home residents and staff, including facility level data, are available from CMS. In May 2021, CMS issued an interim final rule and guidance requiring the reporting of nursing home resident and staff vaccination status.
Ensure quality care for residents through adequate staffing, oversight, and access to in-person formal advocates, called long-term care Ombudsmen. Please act now to protect our most vulnerable - include language in the state budget to ensure adequate staffing at nursing homes. Ensuring families and friends can visit their loved ones in nursing homes has been a top priority for AARP, and AARP is advocating for visitation for all to resume as soon as possible, which means that it must be safe. Visitation is key to combatting social isolation which has proven negative impacts on people's health. With new COVID-19 cases in North Carolina long-term care facilities declining rapidly over the past several weeks, facilities that meet criteria have been given the green light to resume indoor visitation while continuing to follow infection prevention recommendations. Data points that go back prior to the first reporting date, including the “since January 2020” counts of resident cases and deaths in the state fact sheets, may significantly undercount the total number of cases and deaths.
Ensure access to in-person visitation following federal and state guidelines for safety and require continued access to virtual visitation for all residents. Prioritize regular and ongoing testing and adequate personal protective equipment for residents and staff—as well as inspectors and any visitors. Require daily reporting of facilities with confirmed cases to help manage the public health response and keep families up-to-date. RALEIGH -- The NC Department of Health and Human Services announced some good news for people who have been waiting patiently, as well as painfully, to visit their loved ones in long-term care facilities. Hold long-term care facilities accountable when they fail to provide adequate care to residents. Improve transparency focused on daily, public reporting of cases and deaths in facilities; communication with families about discharges and transfers; and accountability for state and federal funding that goes to facilities.
AARP is the nation’s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With nearly 38 million members and offices in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, AARP works to strengthen communities and advocate for what matters most to families with a focus on health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment.
At the time of that announcement, CMS said it would emphasize education, rather than impose such penalties.
However we are hearing facilities are slow to open back up and when they do the hours are too limited, making visitation difficult. In the other 44 states, fewer than one third of staff are up to date on vaccines and less than one tenth of facilities have reached the 75% threshold. This weakening of enforcement represents a sharp departure in policy for CMS, which in 2016 issued regulations that included improved protections against abuse, neglect, exploitation and evictions. For example, last November, CMS stopped using for 18 months a number of the enforcement remedies it has to address certain violations, including financial penalties and the termination of eligibility for Medicaid and Medicare funding.
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