News Roundup May 15th, 2020
Nursing homes across the US are coming under closer scrutiny as containment of outbreaks within elderly care has become an uphill battle to mitigate. Lawsuits are starting to surface as grief over lost loved ones seek closure amidst a devastating pandemic. In steps to reinforce nursing care facilities CMS has offered a new toolkit designed to help implement measures to properly manage risk.
More here: CMS.gov
“The toolkit provides detailed resources and direction for quality improvement assistance and can help in the creation and implementation of strategies and interventions intended to manage and prevent the spread of COVID-19 within nursing homes.”
Telehealth as a service continues to evolve as the CMS and state governments look to implement and structure as the health landscape shifts in various directions. One example of implementation comes from Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer through an executive order as case loads in her state quickly escalated to unprecedented scale.
More here: WILX-10
“Telehealth provides a way for patients to safely consult with their doctor and receive health care services while continuing to practice social distancing and limit potential exposure to COVID-19,’ said Governor Whitmer. “This Executive Order ensures Michiganders who need health care during this ongoing pandemic can still receive care while staying safer in their home.”
And finally in New York, after a lengthy drawn out battle to contain the first serious outbreak of COVID-19 in the states, the New York Governor announced that they were reversing a much contested policy that nursing homes are required to accept discharged patients from hospitals.
More here: NBC News
“New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled a requirement for hospital patients to test negative for the Coronavirus before they can be discharged to nursing homes, effectively reversing a much-criticized state policy that required long-term care facilities to accept recovering patients who may still test positive for COVID-19.”
