Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Troubled California, Georgia Nursing Homes Escape Repercussions
KPCC: Despite License Denials, Nursing Homes Can Keep Operating In California
Even before the pandemic, advocates pointed to dangerous conditions in U.S. nursing homes, including staffing shortages and infection control failures. Many nursing homes didn't provide quality care, they charged, and studies have found that homes owned by for-profit entities racked up more deficiencies and had lower staffing levels, compared to non-profit facilities. And as the number of for-profit nursing home chains has increased, advocates say states aren't doing enough to vet nursing home owners. California is home to about 1,200 nursing homes. Those facilities care for 100,000 nursing home patients — the biggest nursing home population of any state. For those fragile and vulnerable residents, the situation is fraught: Under state regulations, a KPCC investigation found nursing home operators can continue running facilities even after they've been denied a license to do so by the state. (Mendelson and Yu, 5/26)
11Alive: Ga. Nursing Homes Rewarded After COVID-19 Safety Violations
The pandemic has magnified troubles within our nursing homes. From the lack of qualified workers to infection control, the government has tried to buy its way out of the problem. But is money hiding accountability?11Alive's investigative team, The Reveal, found dozens of Georgia nursing homes received state grant money for doing well protecting residents from COVID-19, while the same department also fined those nursing homes for safety violations. Records show a lot of the violations were related directly to infection control. “This is very upsetting, can you believe that,” Lori Ciminelli asked. (Lindstrom, 5/25)
The CT Mirror: Calls Intensify For Nursing Home Reform As Legislative Session Nears Its End
Early this year, as legislators were beginning their work at the state Capitol amid a prolonged health crisis, a task force was created to study the dire conditions in Connecticut’s nursing homes. It issued a raft of suggestions, including higher minimum staffing levels, more stringent infection control measures and requirements for maintaining adequate personal protective equipment. The pandemic shined a bright light on many of these stubborn issues in nursing homes, especially staffing shortages that advocates say caused delays in care and made the spread of infection more difficult to contain. (Carlesso, 5/26)
