Editorial Staff

How did COVID impact Massachusetts’ long-term care facilities?

/in , , , , , , , , /by Editorial Staff
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

In April 2021, the Department of Public Health (DPH) removed from the COVID-19 Response Reporting Dashboard its former count of long-term care deaths, which was then greater than 9,000 – more than half of all reported COVID deaths at that time.  In place of the count of long-term care deaths was a vague reference to various separate reports, one of which contained a total number of eldercare deaths that was thousands lower than the previously displayed number.  

Pioneer reported this abrupt and substantial change in its May 2021 white paper, “A Brighter Dashboard: State Should Cut Confusion and Clarify Eldercare Cases and Deaths.”  The paper asked, understandably, for a clear explanation:  What counting methodology produced the 9,000-plus figure?  And, if thousands of those deaths are no longer considered long-term care deaths, what are representative examples of such deaths? Addressing this question would help the public understand what was removed from the former total.

Pioneer pressed the Executive Office of Health and Human Services and DPH for such an explanation orally in virtual meetings and in writing through 2021, and was unsuccessful in those efforts.  Subsequently, Pioneer has filed this Public Records Act request.  How COVID impacted Massachusetts’ long-term care facilities is a matter of obvious importance, both on principle (the public has a right to know the facts), and for purposes of evaluating – and where possible improving – public policy.  The state’s amendment of its long-term care death count may have been appropriate – but the public has the right to evaluate that question, and cannot do so absent a better explanation of what happened and why.

Read Public Records Request

Get Our COVID-19 News, Tips & Resources!

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

Related Content:

Combatting COVID-19: Life in the MGH Emergency Room

0 Comments
/
Join host Joe Selvaggi and Pioneer Senior Fellow Josh Archambault as they talk with Dr. David King about the experience of being in emergent care during a pandemic and lockdown. They explore the challenges of coping with a poorly understood virus during a lockdown, all while continuing to serve the sick.

New Pioneer Institute Hotline Allows Public to Report Violations of Open Meeting Law

0 Comments
/
With most public meetings taking place remotely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pioneer Institute has unveiled an online hotline that allows members of the public to report potential violations of the Commonwealth’s and other states' Open Meeting Law.

Update: “Mapping COVID-19” Tool Now Shows Testing Data

0 Comments
/
Now, in addition to maps and tables regarding the number of cases and case rates across the state, “Mapping COVID-19” also includes information regarding the testing efforts in the Commonwealth.

Hubwonk Ep. 8: Who is WHO? COVID-19, Massachusetts, and the unhealthy World Health Organization

0 Comments
/
Hubwonk host Joe Selvaggi and Pioneer Healthcare Senior Fellow Josh Archambault are joined by Hoover Institution’s Dr. Lanhee Chen to discuss the role that the World Health Organization (WHO) plays, what dysfunction may have contributed to the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic, and what steps can be taken to bring back transparency and trust.

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

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

Holyoke Soldiers’ Home Study Targets Inadequate Nursing Home Staffing Standards

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.

How will COVID-19 affect the 2020 Census in Massachusetts?

0 Comments
/
On April 1, 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau unveiled a flood of…

National Study Finds Most States Lack Healthcare Price Transparency Laws

At a time when the coronavirus pandemic has caused massive shifts in state policies on telehealth and scope of practice in healthcare, a new Pioneer Institute study underscores that most of the 50 states continue to suffer from weak laws regarding price transparency.  The study identified states that have laws that require carriers, providers or both to provide personalized cost information to consumers before obtaining healthcare services.  Fully 33 states placed in the lowest of the three broad analytic tiers on the strength of their state healthcare transparency laws.