nursing homes

As part of the continuing efforts under President Biden’s initiative to improve nursing home transparency, safety and quality, and accountability, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced new actions to reduce the inappropriate use of antipsychotic medications and to bring greater transparency about nursing home citations to families. Beginning this month, CMS will conduct targeted, off-site audits to determine whether nursing homes are accurately assessing and coding individuals with a schizophrenia diagnosis.

This fact sheet from the National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center, Residents’ Rights and the LGBTQ+ Community: Know Your Rights as a Nursing Home Resident, highlights federal residents' rights and nursing home requirements pertaining to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ+) residents. The factsheet also provides options for complaint resolution, information for reporting abuse and resources regarding long-term care and LGBTQ+ advocacy.

Starting on Wednesday, January 26, CMS began posting new information on the Care Compare website to help consumers better understand staffing levels and concerns at nursing home facilities that can influence the quality of care being provided to residents. Information on staff turnover and weekend staff will be posted for each facility.

CMS has made vaccination data available in a user-friendly format to help people make informed decisions when choosing a nursing home for themselves or a loved one. CMS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are using this data to monitor vaccine uptake among residents and staff to identify facilities that may need additional resources or assistance.

This PHI report provides a new annual snapshot on the direct care workforce, including its demographics, occupational roles, job quality challenges, and projected job openings. The report includes detailed overviews of home care workers, residential care aides, and nursing assistants in nursing homes, as well as analyzes how the pandemic has affected the workforce.

On August 10, 2021, the U.S. Senate introduced the Nursing Home Improvement and Accountability Act of 2021. The bill aims to increase transparency, accountability and oversight as well as improve staffing in nursing homes.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), issued updated guidance for nursing homes to safely expand visitation options during the COVID-19 pandemic public health emergency. This latest guidance comes as more than 3 million doses of vaccines have been administered within nursing homes. Read the full guidance for more information.

Altarum recently published a special report highlighting the impact COVID-19 restrictions has had on nursing home residents. The report is the result of a survey that directly polled residents about their pandemic experience in 365 nursing homes in 36 states.

This week, the Senate Finance Committee released the language and summaries of legislation to help nursing home efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19. The Act would call on nursing homes to ensure that a portion Federal relief funds, made available on or after July 1, for responding to COVID-19 would be used for personal protective equipment (PPE) and COVID-19 testing in long-term care facilities. The Act also has language for expanding resources for elder justice activities.

CMS published a proposed rule to revise the current federal nursing home regulations and a final arbitration rule. Consumer Voice has released a side-by-side comparison chart of the current and the newly released proposed rules, as well as the final arbitration rules.