Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'Devastating' Toll: Nursing Homes Turn To Federal Government For $10B In Relief Funds
NPR: Nursing Home Association Asks For $10 Billion In Federal Coronavirus Relief Funds
With more than 11,000 resident deaths, nursing homes have become the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis. Now, they're asking the federal government for help — $10 billion worth of help. The American Health Care Association, the trade organization for most nursing homes, called the impact on long-term care facilities "devastating." In a letter sent this week to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, they ask for the federal government to designate relief funding from the CARES Act for nursing homes the way it has for hospitals. (Jaffe, 5/6)
ABC News: Businesses, Nursing Homes Seek Liability Protections As Country Reopens
Can a business be held responsible if an employee or customer gets the coronavirus? The question is at the center of a brewing debate across the country as states begin reopening their economies as they seek to balance support for businesses with protections for workers and consumers. (Siegel, 5/7)
The Washington Post: Sagepoint, Potomac Valley Maryland Nursing Homes Lacked Coronavirus Testing, PPE
Caitlin Evans can pinpoint the first day she and other nurses believe they exposed residents of Sagepoint Senior Living Services to the novel coronavirus. The 26-year-old nurse spent a half-hour on March 27 preparing a man with a bad cough to go to a hospital for a medical procedure. Neither she nor other nurses who helped him to the ambulance wore masks or other protective gear. Despite their pleas, they said, managers told them that such protections were unnecessary. (Tan and Chason, 5/6)
Arizona Republic: Republic Files Lawsuit To Reveal COVID-19 Data At Nursing Homes
Arizona news organizations are suing the Arizona Department of Health Services to release information about coronavirus cases in nursing homes. Outbreaks in nursing homes may be the deadliest setting for the pandemic within the state. In Maricopa County, residents of long-term care facilities account for about two-thirds of the deaths so far. Yet state health officials have refused to share the information they collect about which facilities have outbreaks, citing patient privacy. (McGlade and Ryman, 5/5)
Boston Globe: Critics Assail Law Shielding Nursing Homes, Hospitals From Liability During Crisis
As coronavirus casualties climbed last month, the Baker administration moved swiftly to shield health care providers and employees from a feared torrent of lawsuits stemming from their work on the front lines of the pandemic. But a new Massachusetts law giving liability protection to institutions and workers — including volunteers — who are pivotal to battling COVID-19 is drawing criticism from plaintiffs’ lawyers and advocates for seniors. They say it extends blanket immunity to parties that should be held to account for their actions in the public health emergency. (Weisman, 5/6)
Boston Globe: Same Company, Same City, Two Coronavirus Outbreaks At Separate Medford Nursing Homes
In the final days of her mother’s life, Marilyn Roche listened regularly to Courtyard Nursing Care Center conference calls, which described COVID-19′s sweep through the Medford facility in increasingly stark terms. One day, test results for 39 of 55 patients came back positive for the virus. During another call, Roche learned about the death of four patients in the same wing where her mother, Joan Bretta, 90, lived. On another call, the staff shared information about end-of-life care. (Crimaldi and Murphy, 5/6)
Modern Healthcare: Illinois Nursing Home Workers Offered Raise Ahead Of Planned Strike
The Illinois Association of Health Care Facilities said today that it will offer higher wages and COVID hazard pay to nursing home workers, who have threatened to go on strike May 8 over issues regarding pay, staffing and a lack of personal protective equipment to guard against COVID-19. Under the offer, certified nursing assistants would see a $2 raise in their base wages, plus an additional $2 in bonus pay for the remainder of the pandemic. (Asplund, 5/6)
New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana Reverses Course, Will Name Nursing Homes With Coronavirus On May 18
Louisiana will resume publicly naming nursing homes with confirmed cases of coronavirus, a state official said during a legislative hearing Wednesday. (Roberts, 5/6)
