Transparency Needed at Long-term Care Facilities

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

The anxiety of having a parent in a nursing home under the constant threat of Covid-19 has to be debilitating. Residents, many with dementia, who had grown accustomed to their children’s regular visits must be in a state of increased confusion and despair in their isolation.

The decision to move a parent into a home is beyond difficult. In the end, though, the decision comes down to basic safety. Are they safer at their own home, living with you when you cannot be there around the clock – or in a facility? Ultimately, it comes down to limiting risks, which often means assisted living, skilled nursing or rest homes. The decision is made to protect with professional care.

But the Covid-19 pandemic was not part of the equation.

Now, with positive coronavirus cases and deaths surging, the state reported that 44 percent of 957 Covid-19-related deaths occurred in long-term care facilities. Already an extremely vulnerable population, the state’s 57,500 residents in long-term care facilities are at enormous risk, even when at top-rated facilities.

Yesterday, Massachusetts AARP Director, Mike Festa, gave sobering legislative testimony to the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs. His ask? Transparency. Read his full testimony here.

These are the transparency measures the Director requested:

We urge you to make the following amendments to the bill language as caregivers and family members need and deserve to have this information for their own health decisions and as they consider possible next steps and interventions for their loved ones.

In section (b) – please add staffing levels at both licensed and unlicensed facilities:

(b) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, assisted living residences, elderly housing facilities and long-term care facilities shall report daily to the local department of health in the municipality where said assisted living residences, elderly housing facilities or long-term care facilities are located or to the Massachusetts department of public health the number of known COVID-19 positive cases and mortalities in the facility and staffing levels both licensed and unlicensed.

In section (c) – please add language to identify all long term care facilities by name and post it publicly:

(c) The department of public health shall report weekly the number of COVID-19 positive cases and mortalities at assisted living residences, elderly housing facilities and long-term care facilities to the house and senate committees on ways and means and post the report on its website. The report shall, at a minimum, identify each assisted living residence, elderly housing facility and long-term care facility by name, associate the number of COVID-19 positive cases to each facility, and any reductions in staffing levels compared to staffing levels before the declaration of the state emergency. The department shall also report demographic data of COVID-19 positive cases and mortalities including race, age, and sex of cases and mortalities in aggregate form.

Please add section (d) – please add language requiring all long term care facilities to report on known COVID-19 positive cases and mortalities.

(d) Each assisted living residence, elderly housing facility and long-term care facility shall report daily to state long term care ombudsman, resident’s families, guardians and legally authorized representatives (as per state law) the number of known COVID-19 positive cases among residents and staff and mortalities in the facility and any reductions in staffing levels compared to staffing levels before the declaration of the state emergency.

Get Our COVID-19 News, Tips & Resources!

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

Related Posts

The COVID-19 Impact on Massachusetts Community College Enrollment & Success Trends

Enrollment at Massachusetts community colleges has dropped 32.61…

Elevating Liberal Democracy Above Fragmentation – 30 Resources for Citizens and Schools

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Elevating Liberal Democracy Above Fragmentation.

“Hellhound on My Trail” Celebrating American Blues Music – 35 Resources for Students

As music historian Ted Gioia tells us, the blues are disappearing from popular music, because of modern technology and it not being taught. American schoolchildren need to know more about the basics of blues music history and its many African-American geniuses, who reshaped the sounds and rhythms of all peoples across the globe. To remedy this, we’re offering a variety of resources to help parents, teachers, and high schoolers.

Massachusetts Is Losing Adjusted Gross Income to No-Income Tax State Migration

In light of a proposed tax increase on million-dollar annual…

Why did some nursing homes experience more COVID-19 deaths and infections than others?

/
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused great loss for Massachusetts…

Ely Kaplansky Goes from Immigrant to Inc. 5000 Insurance Entrepreneur

This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with Ely Kaplansky, President & CEO of Kaplansky Insurance. Since 1974, Ely has created hundreds of jobs in Massachusetts and beyond, with 85 employees in 15 offices across the state today, and he has grown his business during the pandemic, such that Kaplansky Insurance was named to Inc. magazine’s "5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America" list. His success fulfilled the dreams of his parents when they moved from Israel to America in 1955, with just the clothes on their backs and an aunt to take them in. Their journey began in the concentration camps of Germany, and Ely’s story is all about the opportunity and freedom America offers.

Aurora Institute’s Susan Patrick on Digital Learning Lessons from COVID-19

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-hosts Gerard Robinson and Cara Candal talk with Susan Patrick, the President and CEO of Aurora Institute and co-founder of CompetencyWorks. Susan shares observations about the long-term implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for American K-12 education, and the prospects for expanding digital learning.

Celebrating American Independence! – 50 Resources on America’s Founding for Schoolchildren & Citizens

American schoolchildren need to know more about the basic history of and lessons from the American Revolution and War for Independence, including perhaps the greatest leader and hero the country has ever produced, George Washington. To do our small part to help the cause, we’re offering a variety of resources to help parents, teachers, schoolchildren, and citizens better celebrate the Fourth of July!

Why does a gender-gap persist in vaccination rates?

/
Men are more likely to die of COVID-19 than women: 13 men die…

“The Jazz Age” – 1920s America – 50 Resources for High School Students

American schoolchildren need to know more about the basics of the history of and lessons from the 1920s, which did as much as any decade to shape our modern country in the last century. To remedy this, we’re offering a variety of resources to help parents, teachers, and high schoolers:

Monarchs of the Sea – American Boats, Ships, & their Captains – 40 Resources for High School Students

In Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs on curricular resources for parents, families, and teachers during COVID-19, this one focuses on: Celebrating American Boats, Ships, & their Captains.

Alzheimer Breakthrough Disillusionment: Confusion on FDA’s Approval of Expensive and Possibly Ineffective Drug

Hubwonk host Joe Selvaggi talks with precision medicine expert Hannah Mamuszka and Pioneer Institute's Bill Smith about the promises and pitfalls of the newly approved Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, and the challenges presented when new, expensive drugs of dubious benefit are introduced to the nation’s formulary.

Umesh Bhuju Seeks a Fair Deal for Immigrants, Farmers & the Environment

This week on JobMakers, Host Denzil Mohammed talks with Umesh Bhuju, owner of Zumi’s Espresso in Ipswich, Massachusetts, about how a business model based on selling nothing but fair-trade products can thrive in a world driven by profit. He describes his early experiences in his homeland of Nepal, where he witnessed child labor, and how that has shaped his pursuit of the American dream.

New York Times Best Seller Paul Reid on Winston Churchill, WWII, & the Cold War

This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara and guest co-host Kerry McDonald talk with Paul Reid, co-author, with William Manchester, of the New York Times best-selling biography of Winston Churchill, The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965. Reid shares how he was enlisted to complete William Manchester’s biographical trilogy on the greatest political figure of the 20th century, which became a best-seller.

Comparing Covid-19 Vaccination and New Infection Rates in Suffolk County: Is Vaccination Working?

/
Massachusetts ranks fourth nationally for the highest percent…