Nursing Homes On Financial Edge Could Be Wiped Out By Coronavirus Crisis

The New York Times: Pandemic’s Costs Stagger The Nursing Home Industry
Even before they became deadly petri dishes for the worst pandemic in generations, many nursing homes were struggling to stay afloat and provide quality care. But since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, nursing home operators have had to spend more money on protective equipment for staff and technology to connect residents with relatives who are no longer allowed to visit. Their revenues have shrunk because they are admitting fewer new residents in hopes of reducing the risk of infection. (Goldstein, Gebeloff and Silver-Greenberg, 4/21)

Modern Healthcare: Nursing Home Chain Converts Two Units To Care For Recently Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients
Two new units designed for COVID-19 patients who have recently been discharged from hospitals have opened at nursing homes operated by Novi, Mich.-based Optalis Healthcare, according to CEO Raj Patel. The hospital step-down units, called subacute-care units, are located at Evergreen Health and Rehabilitation in Beverly Hills and the Shelby Health and Rehabilitation in Shelby Township. (Greene, 4/20)

Kaiser Health News: ‘It Hurts Our Soul’: Nursing Home Workers Struggle With Thankless Position
In the months before county health officials ordered the evacuation of COVID-19-plagued Magnolia Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, the facility’s employees complained of bounced checks. It sat on a list of the nation’s worst nursing homes for health and safety violations. But when announcing the unprecedented evacuation of Magnolia’s 83 remaining patients last week, Dr. Cameron Kaiser, Riverside County’s health officer, singled out the nursing home’s staff― after only one of its 13 certified nursing assistants showed up for a scheduled shift the previous day. (Almendrala, 4/21)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Nearly 1/3 Of Louisiana’s Coronavirus Deaths Have Come In Nursing Homes; Death Toll To 403
Falling in line with a national trend, the coronavirus deaths in Louisiana’s nursing homes and long-term facilities climbed to 403 — around 30% of the state’s total COVID-19 deaths, according to numbers released Monday by the Louisiana Department of Health. Meanwhile, nearly half of the state’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities have at least one COVID-19 case, the numbers show. (Roberts III, 4/20)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nursing Home Residents ‘Terrified’ As COVID-19 Rampages Through Facilities 
COVID-19 cases and deaths have spiked in Nevada nursing homes and assisted living centers, and the facilities now account for more than 16 percent of all reported deaths from the disease in the state, according to new data published Monday. The data was posted by the Department of Health and Human Services on its nvhealthresponse.nv.gov website in a new tracking tool for state-run or -regulated institutions. (Erickson, 4/20)

San Francisco Chronicle: Complaint Alleges Santa Clara County Health Workers In San Jose Nursing Homes Exposed To Coronavirus Patients 
Health workers were potentially exposed to the coronavirus without proper protection and training at two skilled nursing facilities in Santa Clara County, according to a complaint filed with state workplace safety regulators. The complaint filed by the SEIU Local 521 union alleges that county health care workers represented by the union who were assigned to two nursing facilities — Canyon Springs Post-Acute Care Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and the Ridge Post-Acute Care Skilled Nursing Facility — had direct contact with infected patients without proper masks and isolation practices. (DiFeliciantonio , 4/20)