Holyoke Soldiers’ Home Study Targets Inadequate Nursing Home Staffing Standards

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

BOSTON – Standards enforced at the federal and state levels are insufficient to address chronic staffing issues reported by staff and residents’ families at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, making that facility particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new Pioneer Institute research.

“State officials and leaders at the Soldiers’ Home seem to have applied the staffing standards correctly,” said Pioneer researcher Andrew Mikula, who co-authored “Understaffing at Long-Term Care Facilities Is Not Unique to the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home. It’s Embedded in Federal Standards,” with Greg Sullivan.  “The problem is that the standards themselves are not sufficient to protect the frail and elderly during normal times, let alone in the midst of a pandemic.”

Over 70 elderly veterans have died at the western Massachusetts long-term care facility during the pandemic.

The Springfield Republican launched an investigative series into the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home’s quality of care in 2017, shortly after the publication of concerning injury data and staffing complaints at the facility. Among the chief concerns was that the Soldiers’ Home didn’t have sufficient staff on hand to prevent falls among residents, which was later echoed by union representatives in a 2018 petition to management. Journalist Mike Plaisance went on to document the facility’s high marks during federal and state reviews, which seem jarring given its disproportionate suffering during the tragic Coronavirus outbreak.

In 2001, the U.S. Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services recommended that, for every day each resident spent at a nursing home facility, nursing staff members would spend 4.1 hours servicing the facility. The corresponding standard enforced by the federal government, and cited in a 2017 state audit report, is a minimum of 2.5 nursing hours per resident day.

By March 2020, when staff started calling in sick with COVID-19, management consolidated staffing resources by combining different floors of the facility and having up to nine residents sleep in the dining room, which only accelerated the spread of the virus among residents.

This alleged mismanagement is now the subject of at least four investigations involving both state and federal officials. While Governor Charlie Baker has called in the National Guard to provide assistance to nursing staff at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, there is still months of work to be done to evaluate who is liable for the deaths of dozens of elderly veterans.

“While it’s easy to retroactively point fingers, the staffing and managerial concerns at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home that predate the Coronavirus outbreak really stand out,” said Pioneer Research Director Greg Sullivan. “That’s why the union’s complaints and the Springfield Republican’s investigative work are so insightful.”

A 2019 report from Suffolk University’s Moakley Center for Public Management cites the state audit report’s findings of excessive overtime payments at the Soldiers’ Home as a potential indicator of staffing issues. However, the 2017 audit report didn’t make that connection, and thus the warnings of the union, staff members, and families of residents went unheeded for years. Unfortunately, it may take a tragedy such as COVID-19 for state and federal standards for nursing home staffing to reflect the decades-long recommendations of healthcare experts.

About the Authors

Gregory Sullivan is Pioneer’s Research Director. Prior to joining Pioneer, Sullivan served two five-year terms as Inspector General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and held several positions within that office previously. Sullivan was a 17-year member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving on the committees of Ways and Means, Human Services, and Post-Audit and Oversight. Greg holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, a master’s degree in public administration from The Kennedy School of Public Administration at Harvard, and a master’s degree from the Sloan School at M.I.T., with a concentration in finance.

Andrew Mikula is the Lovett & Ruth Peters Economic Opportunity Fellow at Pioneer Institute. Mr. Mikula was previously a Roger Perry Government Transparency Intern at Pioneer Institute and studied economics at Bates College.

About Pioneer
Mission
Pioneer Institute develops and communicates dynamic ideas that advance prosperity and a vibrant civic life in Massachusetts and beyond.

Vision
Success for Pioneer is when the citizens of our state and nation prosper and our society thrives because we enjoy world-class options in education, healthcare, transportation and economic opportunity, and when our government is limited, accountable and transparent.

Values
Pioneer believes that America is at its best when our citizenry is well-educated, committed to liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise, and both willing and able to test their beliefs based on facts and the free exchange of ideas.

Get Our COVID-19 News, Tips & Resources!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Related Commentary

Massachusetts’ Holyoke Soldiers’ Home is the hardest-hit facility in the country due to COVID-19. How did that happen? Watch this WCVB-TV segment, featuring Pioneer’s Greg Sullivan, on the facility’s budget, overtime spending, and questions about the care that it provided even before COVID-19.

Recent Posts

Study: Officials Must Address Basic Questions to Improve Public School Computer Science Education

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic has further transitioned education towards electronic devices, computer science education in K-12 public schools around the country faces a number of daunting challenges, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

Hubwonk Ep. 7: Covid Testing: What went wrong, where we are & when we’ll get closer to normalcy

/
https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/chtbl.com/track/G45992/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/828394294-pioneerinstitute-hubwonk-ep-7-covid-testing-what-went-wrong-where-we-are-when-well-get-closer-to-normalcy.mp3 Join…

Survey Suggests Demand for Telecommuting After COVID-19 Crisis

Citing an avoidance of the commute and more flexible scheduling, nearly 63 percent of respondents to Pioneer Institute’s survey, “Will You Commute To Work When The COVID-19 Crisis Is Over?” expressed a preference to work from home one day a week, and a plurality preferred two to three days a week, even after a COVID-19 vaccine is available. Respondents cite social isolation as the biggest drawback of remote work. The survey was conducted from April 22nd to May 15th, and received responses from over 700 individuals.

It’s Time for the MBTA to Actively Engage Riders to Understand Their Commuting Plans

/
The MBTA should conduct a survey of mTicket app users regarding their future plans. Some may never work in offices again. Some will certainly do some workdays in the office and some at home. Others will be in offices and back to business as usual at some point. Using their responses, the T can calculate ridership and determine projected revenue.

Homeschooling Expert Kerry McDonald on Harvard Law Professor Controversy & COVID

/
This week on “The Learning Curve,” Cara and Gerard are happy to be joined by Kerry McDonald, a homeschooling expert and Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education, on the major lessons we all should be learning from this educational moment, now that COVID has turned most of America’s 50 million schoolchildren and their families into "homeschoolers."

32.9 percent of the Massachusetts workforce and 26.2 percent of the U.S. workforce have filed unemployment claims over the past nine weeks.

/
Data released today by the U.S. Department of the shows that 33.0 percent of the Massachusetts workforce and 26.2 percent of the U.S. workforce have filed unemployment claims since the COVID-19 unemployment surge began nine weeks ago.

Study Finds Pandemic Likely to Negatively Impact Biopharmaceutical Sector

Contrary to conventional wisdom that says the coronavirus pandemic will generally benefit biopharmaceutical companies, a new Pioneer Institute study finds many companies will emerge from the pandemic commercially weaker, dealing with delays in new product launches and with fewer resources to invest in research and development.

“Every Action has an Equal and Opposite Reaction”: 8 K-12 Science Resources During COVID-19

/
The fourth in Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19 focuses on science education.

COVID-19 Roundup from Pioneer: The race for a vaccine; Unemployment Tracker; Reopening reactions; Grading BPS on remote learning; Holyoke Soldiers’ Home understaffing; & more!

/
Pioneer staff share their top picks for COVID-19 stories highlighting useful resources, best practices, and questions we should be asking our public and private sector leaders.

In The Era Of COVID-19, Mass. Needs To Get Long-Term Care Right

/
This op-ed originally appeared in WGBH News. In much of the…