The New York State Attorney General Letitia James has released the Nursing Homes COVID Report. Preliminary findings include:
» A larger number of nursing home residents died from COVID-19 than DOH data reflected.
» Lack of compliance with infection control protocols put residents at increased risk of harm during the COVID-19 pandemic in some facilities.
» Nursing homes that entered the pandemic with low U.S. Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) Staffing ratings4 had higher COVID-19 fatality rates than facilities with higher CMS Staffing ratings.
» Insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) for nursing home staff put residents at increased risk of harm during the COVID-19 pandemic in some facilities.
» Insufficient COVID-19 testing for residents and staff in the early stages of the pandemic put residents at increased risk of harm in some facilities.
» The current state reimbursement model for nursing homes gives a financial incentive to owners of for-profit nursing homes to transfer funds to related parties (ultimately increasing their own profit) instead of investing in higher levels of staffing and PPE.
» Lack of nursing home compliance with the executive order requiring communication with family members caused avoidable pain and distress; and,
» Government guidance requiring the admission of COVID-19 patients into nursing homes may have put residents at increased risk of harm in some facilities and may have obscured the data available to assess that risk.