Kaiser Family Foundation

This new KFF brief finds that only 45% of all nursing facility residents and 22% of staff are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations. That is a sharp drop from the 87 percent of nursing facility residents and staff who completed their primary vaccination series. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently defines having up to date vaccines as “having received a bivalent booster or having received a final shot of the original vaccines less than two months ago.” The share of residents who are up to date ranged from 73 percent in South Dakota to 24 percent in Arizona. Among nursing home staff, the share ranged from 48 percent in California to 10 percent in Alabama.

This new KFF brief finds that only 45% of all nursing facility residents and 22% of staff are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations. That is a sharp drop from the 87 percent of nursing facility residents and staff who completed their primary vaccination series. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently defines having up to date vaccines as “having received a bivalent booster or having received a final shot of the original vaccines less than two months ago.” The share of residents who are up to date ranged from 73 percent in South Dakota to 24 percent in Arizona. Among nursing home staff, the share ranged from 48 percent in California to 10 percent in Alabama.

This Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found that 656,000 people nationwide were on state waiting lists for home and community-based services financed through Medicaid waivers in 2021. This new data is among the latest set of findings from the 20th KFF survey of state officials administering Medicaid HCBS programs in all 50 states and Washington, DC.

This brief highlights Part D plan (PDP) availability. In 2023, the average number of PDPs available to beneficiaries is 24, up one from 2022. A total of 801 PDPs will be offered in the U.S., ranging from 19 in New York to 28 in Arizona.

This brief describes Medicare Advantage (MA) plan offerings in 2023. Of note, the average number of MA plans available to Medicare beneficiaries in 2023 is 43 compared to an average of 38 plans in 2022. Beneficiaries in 27 counties in the U.S. can choose from 75 or more MA plans.

The Kaiser Family Foundation's new report, “Beneficiary Experience, Affordability, Utilization, and Quality in Medicare Advantage and Traditional Medicare: A Review of the Literature,” details their findings from an analysis of 62 studies published since 2016 comparing traditional Medicare to Medicare Advantage. The analysis reviewed beneficiary experience, affordability, service utilization, and quality measures. According to the report, the review “found few differences between Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare that are supported by strong evidence or have been replicated across multiple studies. Both Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare beneficiaries reported similar rates of satisfaction.

The impact of COVID-19 on nursing facility residents and staff has brought increased attention to existing workforce issues that affect care quality and safety, including staffing shortages and high turnover rates. This analysis presents the most recent national and state-level data on nursing facility-reported staff shortages and describes the Biden Administration’s new policy initiatives to address issues in nursing facilities. National staff shortage trend data spans from May 2020, the first month when nursing facilities were required to report COVID-19 facility data to the CDC, through March 20, 2022, the most recent week of data available.

This brief shares data on state policy choices about Medicaid HCBS, including target populations, functional eligibility criteria, financial eligibility criteria, waiver waiting lists, benefit packages, out-of-pocket costs, use of capitated managed care, self-direction opportunities, covered provider types, electronic visit verification systems, and provider reimbursement rates.

The brief from the KKF shares state-level data on HCBS spending and the number of people receiving Medicaid in FY 2020. The data were collected in KFF’s 19th survey of state officials administering Medicaid HCBS programs in all 50 states and DC.

The 21st annual Medicaid Budget Survey results were released this week. The survey produces information on Medicaid spending, enrollment and policy, with a special focus this year on COVID-19 policies. Two reports were released: “States Respond to COVID-19 Challenges but Also Take Advantage of New Opportunities to Address Long-Standing Issues: Results from a 50-State Medicaid Budget Survey for State Fiscal Years 2021 and 2022” and “Medicaid Enrollment & Spending Growth: FY 2021 & 2022”.