Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
COVID Patients Are Lucrative For Nursing Homes. So They're Kicking Out Other Residents To Make Room.
On a chilly afternoon in April, Los Angeles police found an old, disoriented man crumpled on a Koreatown sidewalk. Several days earlier, RC Kendrick, an 88-year-old with dementia, was living at Lakeview Terrace, a nursing home with a history of regulatory problems. His family had placed him there to make sure he got round-the-clock care after his condition deteriorated and he began disappearing for days at a time. But on April 6, the nursing home deposited Mr. Kendrick at an unregulated boardinghouse — without bothering to inform his family. Less than 24 hours later, Mr. Kendrick was wandering the city alone. (Silver-Greenberg and Harris, 6/21)
As more data comes in on nursing homes across the country, the number of COVID-19 cases and suspected cases continues to climb, as the overall death toll figures somehow drop, according to the latest data shared by CMS Thursday. The newest data, current as of June 7, shows that there are more than 107,000 confirmed cases, more than 71,000 suspected cases and just shy of 29,500 COVID-19 deaths in Medicare and Medicaid nursing homes. (Christ, 6/19)
Mark Shaver hadn't seen his 96-year-old mother Betty in months when he hit a breaking point and decided he had to see her. Shaver lived in South Carolina and Betty was in a nursing home in Morgantown, W. Va., when COVID-19 outbreaks began sweeping across the nation. By early March, Gov. Jim Justice requested that nursing homes in the state restrict visitors, blocking any real chance Shaver would have to see his mom in-person. (Martin and Silva, 6/22)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) called criticism of his handling of COVID-19 patients being sent back into nursing homes "a shiny object" and "pure politics" during an interview with New York's WAMC-AM on Thursday. The interview comes as ProPublica reported earlier this week that more than 6,000 New York nursing home residents have died as a result of the novel coronavirus, about 6 percent of the more than 100,000 nursing residents in the state. (Concha, 6/18)
Atlanta-based SavaSeniorCare is one of five for-profit nursing homes chains targeted in a congressional investigation launched last week to explore the coronavirus crisis in the nation’s long-term care facilities. Rep. James Clyburn, chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, sent Sava’s CEO Jerry Roles a 10-page letter asking detailed questions about the company’s operations and its handling of the pandemic. (Teegardin, 6/21)
State data released this week shows nursing home residents account for one in three of Michigan’s COVID-19-related deaths. According to the latest data, the deaths of 1,976 nursing home residents and 24 employees at facilities across the state were coronavirus-related. Service Employees International Union Healthcare Michigan held the memorial and called for better working conditions at nursing homes. (Anderson, 6/19)
