Two hundred thirty-nine Kentucky nursing home residents and two staff members have died of COVID-19, reflecting 60 percent of Kentucky’s COVID-19 deaths. If the same percentage (36 percent) of facilities received an infection control deficiency during the focused infection control surveys as in 2019, approximately 55 facilities would have been cited with infection control deficiencies.
In 2019, 102 Kentucky nursing facilities were cited with an infection control deficiency. Kentucky cited just two facilities with infection control deficiencies (both involving only problems with face masks). In Kentucky, 154 of Kentucky’s 285 licensed nursing facilities, “including facilities that have reported some of the highest number of cases,” had infection control surveys. Neither survey cited a deficiency, although 54 residents in the 227-bed facility had died of confirmed or presumed COVID-19. One New York City nursing facility had a second infection control survey, following families’ complaints about the spread of the virus.
While no national data were available for three months, media at the state and local level had begun to analyze infection control surveys.Īn analysis of 35 of 79 infection control surveys conducted in New York City found that in 25 facilities where more than 600 residents had died from COVID-19, no infection control deficiencies were cited. Kaiser Health News has reported that infection control is the most commonly cited deficiency in nursing facilities, but that most infection control deficiencies are cited at such a low level of severity that financial penalties are not imposed. The General Accounting Office reported in May 2020 that between 20, 82 percent of nursing facilities nationwide were cited with one or more infection control deficiencies, including 48 percent of facilities with infection control deficiencies cited in multiple consecutive years. Infection prevention and control is a longstanding, serious problem in nursing facilities. Less than three percent of infection control surveys since March cited an infection control deficiency and 161 of 163 of the deficiencies (cited in 162 facilities) were classified as causing residents “no harm.” Even if some additional deficiencies were cited but are not publicly reported because the facilities have appealed them, the number of reported deficiencies is startlingly low. These data show a dramatic and implausible decline in infection control deficiencies. Three months later, CMS released infection control survey data for 5724 nursing facilities that were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 4, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) suspended non-emergency inspections of health care facilities and on March 20, CMS limited surveys to two types: targeted infection control surveys and complaint/facility-reported incidents triaged as immediate jeopardy. Listen to Medicare & Health Care Stories.Join the Center for Medicare Advocacy Founder’s Circle.Career, Fellowship & Internship Opportunities.Ossen Medicare Outreach, Education and Advocacy Project.Connecticut Dually Eligible Appeals Project.The Center for Medicare Advocacy Founder’s Circle.
Nursing Home / Skilled Nursing Facility Care.