Better Protections for Nursing Facility Residents

Justice in Aging LogoThis past week, Justice in Aging and 45 other national and state organizations partnered in sending a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requesting better protections for nursing facility residents during COVID-19.

The request included the following six recommendations:

  1. Require immediately that nursing facilities disclose whether residents or staff have been infected by COVID-19. 
  2. Keep residents safe by setting meaningful standards for the necessary staff, training, and equipment to care for residents with COVID-19 and those without. 
  3. Combat isolation by requiring nursing facilities to actively coordinate and facilitate telephone calls, video conferences, and other communications between residents and their family members and friends.
  4. Avoid disruption by requiring facilities and states to work collaboratively with residents and their families when making transfers designed to “cohort” residents with others who also are COVID-positive, or COVID-negative. 
  5. Give residents a greater ability to move in with family during this emergency, by guaranteeing a resident’s right to return to the facility, if desired, and facilitating access to Medicaid home and community-based services. 
  6. Require all federally-certified facilities to accept Medicaid, in every room in the facility.
You can read the full letter HERE.

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