Coronavirus

Protecting Nursing Homes Against COVID-19

Published

4 years ago

July 15, 2020

Nursing homes have become ground zero in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, with outbreaks causing high rates of illness and death among vulnerable residents living together in close quarters.

That’s why the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have taken a series of aggressive actions over the last several months to protect nursing home residents against the spread of this new coronavirus.

Beginning in May, CMS required nursing homes that participate in Medicare and Medicaid to inform residents, their families, and their representatives within 12 hours of when a single confirmed COVID-19 case is reported, or when three or more residents or staffers develop respiratory symptoms within 72 hours of each other.

Residents, families, and their representatives also must be given weekly updates or be told by the end of the next day each time a subsequent COVID-19 case is confirmed and/or three or more residents or staffers develop respiratory symptoms within 72 hours of each other.

Nursing homes also must include information about what actions they’re taking to prevent or reduce the risk of transmission, and inform residents and their families about how those actions will change normal operations in the nursing home.

But we didn’t stop there. We also developed a system so the public could quickly and easily access data reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the prevalence of COVID-19 at every CMS-certified nursing home in the country.

This information is now publicly available in a searchable database that allows people to look up individual nursing homes and see how many COVID-19 cases and deaths, among both residents and staffers, have been reported there.

The data can be found at our Nursing Home Compare website. (See the “Spotlight” section for the link.) CMS will update the data weekly and take enforcement action against nursing homes that do not report the required information. About 15,400 nursing homes nationwide are certified to accept people enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid.

The Nursing Home Compare web site features a Five-Star Quality Rating System to rate nursing homes, with one star indicating the lowest overall quality of care and five stars indicating the highest. Early analysis of reported COVID-19 data shows that facilities with a one-star health inspection rating were more likely to have larger numbers of COVID-19 cases than facilities with a five-star health inspection rating.

In March, CMS and the states suspended standard inspections of nursing homes and began looking specifically for violations of infection control and prevention rules. We also provided a focused infection-control survey tool for nursing homes to do self-assessments to ensure they were taking the necessary steps to protect their residents against COVID-19.

CMS is providing additional support and technical assistance to low-performing nursing homes through its Quality Improvement Organizations. QIOs are composed of health quality experts and clinicians with experience in helping healthcare providers to improve the quality of care for people with Medicare. CMS directed QIOs to focus their efforts on providing education and training to all nursing homes in the country.

Finally, CMS recently provided state and local officials with recommendations on phased re-openings of nursing homes in their areas, including when and under what circumstances to allow visitors.

You can read more about the reopening guidelines here:

https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-20-30-nh.pdf-0

Seema Verma is the administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

By Seema Verma

Seema Verma is the administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Posts by By Seema Verma

Related Topics:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)CMS-certified nursing featured Nursing Homes

Up Next

COVID Prison Release to Start With Non-Violent Inmates Over Age 30

Don't Miss

School Leaders Share Scenarios for Reopening Oakland Schools in Fall

By Seema Verma

Seema Verma is the administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Click to comment

California Black Media

Gov. Newsom and Gov. DeSantis Go Head-to-Head in Nationally Televised Debate

Conservative Fox News personality Sean Hannity moderated the duel, during which the TV pundit, more than once, injected his opinion, and appeared to be providing subtle assists to DeSantis. As the debate progressed, it was clear that opinions about each topic discussed was representative of the philosophical and political chasm that divides liberal and conservative America, and a preview of campaign mudslinging that is bound to intensify as the 2024 presidential campaign ensues.

Published

5 months ago

December 10, 2023

Oakland Post

The debate between Gov. Gavin Newsom and Gov. Ron DeSantis was moderated by Fox News personality Sean Hannity. California Black Media image.

By California Black Media

In an intense, 95-minute-plus televised faceoff between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Nov. 30, the men traded jabs and putdowns, defended their respective gubernatorial records, disagreed sharply on how to solve the country’s most pressing problems, and expressed clashing views on the performance of the Biden-Harris administration.

Conservative Fox News personality Sean Hannity moderated the duel, during which the TV pundit, more than once, injected his opinion, and appeared to be providing subtle assists to DeSantis.

As the debate progressed, it was clear that opinions about each topic discussed was representative of the philosophical and political chasm that divides liberal and conservative America, and a preview of campaign mudslinging that is bound to intensify as the 2024 presidential campaign ensues.

“I’ll tell you why I’m here,” Newsom said. “I’m here to tell the truth about the Biden-Harris record and also compare and contrast Ron DeSantis’ record and the Republican Party’s record” with that of California.

DeSantis blasted Newsom’s management of the COVID-19 crisis and criticized Newsom for prevalent crime, homelessness and deteriorating social conditions in California cities.

“You have the freedom to defecate in public in California,” DeSantis said. “You have the freedom to pitch a tent on Sunset Boulevard. You have the freedom to create a homeless encampment under a freeway and even light it on fire. They’re not the freedoms our founding fathers envisioned.”

Newsom took a jab at DeSantis’ presidential candidacy, predicting that the Florida Governor would be endorsing GOP frontrunner Donald Trump soon.

“There’s one thing we have in common,” Newsom said. “Neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

BayCityNews

FDA Updates Approval of Pfizer Booster Vaccine for Children Under 5

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its approval Tuesday of the Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine, making it available to some children under age 5. Before this update, children under 5 were not eligible for COVID-19 booster shots. Instead, they received three doses of the regular vaccine.

Published

1 year ago

March 22, 2023

Oakland Post

As of December 2022, children age 4 and younger who have not been vaccinated receive the omicron variant-specific booster vaccine as the third dose in their primary vaccine series, following two doses of the original Pfizer vaccine.

By Eli Walsh
Bay City News

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its approval Tuesday of the Pfizer-BioNTech booster vaccine, making it available to some children under age 5.

Before this update, children under 5 were not eligible for COVID-19 booster shots. Instead, they received three doses of the regular vaccine.

However, children in that age range who completed their initial vaccination series before December 2022 only received three doses of the original Pfizer vaccine, and are less protected against more infectious variants of the virus as a result.

FDA officials updated the vaccine’s emergency use authorization Tuesday to allow those children who only received the original Pfizer COVID vaccine to receive one dose of the bivalent booster if it has been at least two months since they completed their initial series.

Other children under age 5 are not eligible for the booster, although everyone age 5 and up is eligible for a booster.

“Currently available data show that vaccination remains the best defense against severe disease, hospitalization and death caused by COVID-19 across all age groups, and we encourage all eligible individuals to make sure that their vaccinations are up to date with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine,” said Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Clinical data has found that both the original Pfizer vaccine and the booster vaccine that targets the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are safe for everyone aged 6 months and up and effective at preventing the worst outcomes of COVID infection, including serious illness and death.

COVID vaccines are available at primary care providers, retail pharmacies and some facilities operated by local health departments.

Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Bay Area

COVID-19 Response Grant Program

The City of Union City will be issuing another round of its COVID-19 Response Grant Program. The program has distributed approximately $620,000 in grant funds and forgivable loans to the community to respond to the impacts of COVID-19 and will distribute another $322,000 through this latest round of funding. The City will utilize federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and CARES Act funds.

Published

1 year ago

March 21, 2023

Oakland Post

The City will be holding two informational/technical assistance meetings to support residents and businesses with their applications and respond to any questions. These meetings will be streamed via Zoom. See below for meeting information and Zoom meeting links.

Grants are available through the City’s Road to Recovery Small Business Assistance Program and the Residential Rental Assistance Program. The City began accepting applications on March 6, 2023, at 9 a.m. and will begin reviewing applications (up to 50 applications for each grant opportunity) submitted on or before March 30, 2023, at 5 p.m. The program information and the online application are available on the City’s website:

https://www.unioncity.org/548/COVID-19-Response-Grant-Program

Tuesday, March 14, 2023: 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

https://unioncity-org.zoom.us/j/89061570160

Wednesday, March 15, 2023: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

https://unioncity-org.zoom.us/j/81868680531