COVID-19 roundup: Ventilator use questioned, staff immunity testing, meds shortages and more…
By
Alicia Lasek
Apr 08, 2020
Ventilation may be harmful for certain COVID-19 patients, say some critical care doctors. Plus: immunity testing may help staff return to work.
Residents face ‘broad array’ of worsened health outcomes during pandemic: study
By
Alicia Lasek
Mar 23, 2021
The pandemic’s effect on nursing home residents goes well beyond cases and deaths, investigators say. Unplanned weight loss, depression, incontinence, and loss of cognitive function stand out — with...
Quit treating pandemic’s toll on nursing homes like a ‘bad apples’ problem, expert...
By
Alicia Lasek
Jun 14, 2020
It’s time for the federal government to “own” the problem of containing COVID-19 by paying for and arranging testing across nursing facilities, long-term care policy expert David Grabowski...
Nursing home COVID cases rise four-fold in surge states, resident deaths double, data shows
By
Alicia Lasek
Nov 10, 2020
The rising weekly case count includes residents and staff in 20 states. Meanwhile, about one in six nursing homes did not report testing staff members in the prior week.
Geriatrician survey: Swift telehealth adoption was ‘instrumental’ to pandemic patient care
By
Alicia Lasek
Mar 18, 2022
Responses by Genesis HealthCare physicians offer insight into the dramatic shift in care delivery that took place as COVID-19 raged in 2020.
CMS: End to pandemic waivers helps nursing homes ‘redirect efforts’ to meet residents’ needs
By
Alicia Lasek
Apr 08, 2022
A sweeping phase-out of early COVID-19 pandemic allowances, such as the nurse aide certification waiver, addresses concerns about SNF residents’ physical, mental and psychosocial well-being, the agency...
Pandemic paves way for mobile dentistry, teledentistry in long-term care, experts say
By
Alicia Lasek
Apr 12, 2021
Mobile dentistry for people with dementia, teledentistry, and vaccines by dentist are some of the opportunities that have arisen from disruptions to residents’ oral healthcare during the pandemic, according...
PPE, staff shortages unchanged: CMS data show 1 in 5 facilities ‘severely’ affected
By
Alicia Lasek
Aug 24, 2020
There were notable clusters of equipment shortfalls in certain states. A quarter of U.S. counties had at least 44% of nursing homes reporting low staffing levels.
Coronavirus rates drop 96% in nursing homes, but some see first-ever cases in new year
By
Alicia Lasek
Mar 31, 2021
More than 430 nursing homes saw their first-ever COVID cases in early 2021, evidence that continued infection control measures are needed, and despite phenomenal declines in facility rates, says the U.S....
Nursing homes more prepared for the coronavirus than for H1N1: survey
By
Alicia Lasek
Apr 26, 2020
Despite the COVID-19 troubles currently facing eldercare facilities, things could have been much worse for some, a Michigan survey suggests.