AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard:
BY MIKE FESTA, STATE DIRECTOR, AARP MASSACHUSETTS
The latest update of the AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard finds Massachusetts nursing homes continue to face concerning trends, including rising resident/staff cases and deaths, continuing shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), and continuing staff shortages. As COVID-19 brings to light longstanding flaws in the nation’s long-term care system, AARP’s Public Policy Institute also unveiled a new report in a series on strategies to improve the quality of long-term services and supports (LTSS).
In the four weeks analyzed, October 19 to November 15, AARP’s dashboard reports that Massachusetts nursing homes had:
With coronavirus surging across the country, nursing home residents remain in grave danger as the virus reenters nursing homes and other facilities at an alarming pace. Facilities continue to have shortages of the staff and PPE needed to keep residents and workers safe and stop the spread. Our state leaders must act now to save lives.
As the pandemic continues to place a spotlight on the shortcomings of the country’s long-term care system, the AARP Public Policy Institute has launched LTSS Choices, a multifaceted project designed to advance the transformation and modernization of the nation’s long-term services and supports (LTSS) system.
A new report in the series examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on long-term care facilities and solutions to improve quality. Recommendations highlighted in the report include:
AARP will continue fighting to protect nursing home residents now and offering solutions to improve our long-term care system for the decades to come.
Using data released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which is self-reported by nursing homes, the AARP Public Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Ohio, created the AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard to provide four-week snapshots of the virus’ infiltration into nursing homes and impact on nursing home residents and staff. The dashboard will continue to be updated every four weeks. The complete dashboard is available at aarp.org/nursinghomedashboard.
The LTSS Choices series, including “COVID-19 and Nursing Home Residents,” is available at aarp.org/ltsschoices.
More resources and information on COVID-19 and nursing homes can be found at aarp.org/nursinghomes.