Providers still can’t limit surveyor access or ask for proof of COVID vaccination, CMS says
By
Danielle Brown
Nov 15, 2021
Long-term care facilities are not allowed to restrict access to surveyors based on their vaccination status or ask them for proof of vaccination as a condition of entry, according to updated guidance from...
‘How good are those vaccines now?’ Mixed AARP nursing home report prompts a thorny question
By
Alicia Lasek
Nov 15, 2021
A new AARP report shows encouraging trends in COVID-19 cases and vaccinations. But the steady rate of resident deaths raises concerns for the future as vaccine efficacy wanes, analysts say.
Booster shots fighting for attention with vaccine mandates as initial immunity starts to wane
By
Danielle Brown
Nov 12, 2021
Long-term care providers pushing to get holdout staff fully vaccinated against COVID-19 now have an added concern: Convincing already inoculated workers to get booster shots as their immunity from the...
What long-term care operators are doing to comply with federal vaccination rule by first deadline
By
Danielle Brown
Kimberly Marselas
Nov 11, 2021
It’s all hands on deck as long-term care operators quickly develop implementation plans to comply with the new federal COVID-19 vaccination rule for workers with the first deadline just over three weeks...
Confirmed: LTC facing worst job losses among all healthcare providers
By
Danielle Brown
Nov 11, 2021
Workforce shortages in other sectors of healthcare don’t come close to the job losses the long-term care industry has suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report by the American...
Appreciation, with no regrets
By
Julie Thorson
Nov 10, 2021
Like so many of you, we have held off on in-person gatherings at our campus for months. As I write this blog, I am overwhelmingly excited about gathering in person for our volunteer appreciation luncheon...
Only 1 of Philadelphia’s 47 facilities has not complied with city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate
By
Danielle Brown
Nov 10, 2021
And then there was one. Just a single nursing home out of the 47 facilities located in Philadelphia has not yet complied with the city’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for frontline workers.
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine highly effective in octo- and nonagenarians, German study finds
By
Alicia Lasek
Nov 10, 2021
The data, from 700,000 older residents of Bavaria, resolves questions about the vaccine’s protectiveness that weren’t answered by the drugmaker’s clinical trials, investigators say.
COVID-19 vaccine mandate for surveyors? CMS clarifies
By
Danielle Brown
Nov 09, 2021
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services plans on issuing COVID-19 vaccination guidance covering surveyors charged with inspecting nursing homes, an agency spokesperson confirmed.
CMS urges: Start reviewing, planning and tracking staff COVID vaccinations now
By
Danielle Brown
Nov 08, 2021
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is calling on providers to immediately start reviewing the newly proposed healthcare worker COVID-19 vaccination regulation. They also should actually begin...