On Friday, June 19, 2020, CMS instructed Medicare Administrative Contactors and notified Medicare Advantage plans to cover coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) laboratory tests for nursing home residents and patients. This instruction follows the CDC recent update of COVID-19 Testing Guidelines for Nursing Homes that provides recommendations for testing of nursing home residents … Read More
Coronavirus commission for safety and quality in nursing homes – Members announced
In mid-May of this year, I blogged about CMS announcing a call for nominations for the new contractor-led Coronavirus Commission on Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes “to help inform immediate and future responses to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) within these facilities. This independent Commission’s work will build on the Administration’s … Read More
COVID-19 frequently asked questions document updated
On June 16, 2020, CMS updated the COVID-19 FAQ document. The document is now 81 pages in length. As with previous updates, each FAQ is identified by a date beneath the verbiage. You’ll see New: 6/16/20 or another date to indicate whether an FAQ is new or older. You’ll note there … Read More
National NH training session: Clinical care – Managing COVID positive residents
Clinical Care: Managing COVID Positive Residents The June 18, 2020 National Nursing Home Training Call (4th in the series): Clinical Care: Managing COVID-Positive Residents was a great session! If you missed the session, want to experience it again and/or share the information with a colleague or your team, here’s the webpage with those materials: … Read More
COVID-19 nursing home data posted for week ending June 7, 2020
CMS has posted COVID-19 Nursing Home data submitted for week ending June 7, 2020. This dataset was last updated June 18, 2020 In addition to the above, there are a number of maps and graphics related to resident cases and deaths on this webpage as well as a wealth of … Read More