New Independent Commission to Assess Nursing Homes’ Response to COVID-19 Pandemic
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) recently announced the establishing of a new independent commission whose purpose is to assess and report on the response of nursing homes to the COVID-19 crisis. The commission will make recommendations to apprise CMS regarding immediately needed modifications, along with potential future revisions to guidelines for nursing homes to implement in responding to COVID-19.
CMS Administrator Seema Verma responded to the establishing of this new commission by saying, “Safeguarding the health and promoting the wellbeing and quality of life of the most vulnerable and fragile citizens is a top priority for CMS, and CMS has repeatedly taken early unprecedented, aggressive, and decisive action to protect nursing home residents during this pandemic. And today, we are taking it one step further by asking that an independent commission provide recommendations to further enhance efforts at the federal, state, and local level, and help strengthen the Nation’s response to Coronavirus and keeping residents safe in nursing homes.”
The commission is expected to meet in late May and develop recommendations on three key tasks:
- Putting nursing home residents first by ensuring they are protected from COVID-19, and improving the responsiveness of care delivery to maximize the quality of life for residents.
- Strengthening efforts to enable rapid and effective identification and mitigation of COVID-19 transmission (and other infectious disease) in nursing homes.
- Enhancing strategies to improve compliance with infection control policies in response to COVID-19.
Compliance Perspective
Nursing homes have been challenged to prevent the spread of the extremely contagious coronavirus among residents, most of whom comprise those highly vulnerable to COVID-19. While maintaining the quality of care residents need, facilities have had to deal with the scarcity of testing supplies, shortages of personal protection equipment (PPE), challenges in keeping residents with COVID-19 separated (cohorted) from those not infected related to limitations in physical space and age of facilities, and staffing shortages due to staff members contracting the virus.
Discussion Points:
- Review policies and procedures regarding the facility’s ability to provide the level of care needed by residents, ensuring a prompt and effective implementation of the facility’s Infection Control Plan, and compliance with all state and federal guidelines related to COVID-19. Also consider physical plant changes that might be needed when residents have to be separated to prevent/control the spread of infection.
- Train staff regarding the protocols for the Infection Control Plan and the state and federally issued guidelines for keeping residents diagnosed with COVID-19 separated from residents without the virus, as well as maintaining separate care-giving staff through the use of consistent assignments.
- Periodically audit to ensure that the facility has implemented all state and federal guidelines related to COVID-19.
