Monthly Housing Call Reminder - Thursday. August 20, 1:00 -2:00 ET
Dial: 630-580-1541; Pass Code: 708442
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LeadingAge States and Members Tell Congress to Get Back to Work: LeadingAge held another national-local media event on Friday as part of our Act For Older Adults campaign, telling leaders: “COVID-19 Is Not Taking A Summer Recess—Neither Should You.” Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, was joined by state association executives and members from Indiana, Missouri, Montana, and Ohio. Leaders from these states discussed the grim challenges they are facing and called on Congress to take the steps needed to protect millions of older adults from the worst pandemic in a century.
COVID-19 Supplemental Payment Requests – Authorized Signatures Required – Housing provider reimbursement requests for COVID-19 expenses under the CARES Act were due to HUD on August 5th; HUD has granted additional time for providers to resubmit their previously submitted request forms, if the original submission was not signed by the owner or owner agent with legal authority to commit the owner to the terms of the CARES Act distributions (usually authorized through a board resolution or other means.) Reach out to Juliana Bilowich (jbilowich@leadingage.org) for more information or assistance.
CMS issued a press release this afternoon, boasting of the fines and enforcements imposed on nursing homes and vowing to continue to “hold nursing homes accountable.” No new policy was announced in this press release, but is it foreshadowing?
Updated Assisted Living and Nursing Home Visitation Articles. These have been updated as of this date; roughly eight additional states’ guidances were issued and/or discovered. Here are a few notable highlights since last update:
- Visitation Interdisciplinary Management Team: New York’s visitation guidance requires the assembly of this team to oversee and implement visitation protocols; notably, New York also requires that no more than 10% of facility residents may have visitors at any given time.
- No Food or Drink: Several states that have recently issued guidance – Arkansas, Texas, and Connecticut – explicitly restrict the consumption or exchange of food or drink between the visitor and resident. This is to make sure people do not remove their masks or face guards during the visit.
- Closed-Window Visits ONLY: Uniquely, South Carolina’s guidance only permits visitors to spend time with family via closed window visits; the guidance outlines specifics on how this is to be implemented and maintained.
- Visitor Management Practices: Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky and Vermont have included a few key, nuanced visitor management items in their guidance; these include:
- Visitor Screening Questionnaire: Arkansas requires an extensive Visitor Screening Questionnaire be used with all visitors; it includes that the visitor must sign a declaration regarding their knowledge of COVID 19, visit protocol, and an agreement to inform the facility if they have any symptoms within 72 hours following the visit.
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Visitor/ Family Letter from Ombudsman: In support of residents, families and providers, Connecticut’s Departments of Aging and Disability Services and Public Health put out this very helpful letter to all stakeholders that frames the visitation experience for all.
Updated State Visitation Tracker (8.14.20). A faithful companion to the Visitation Articles; this holds all of the sentinel language, parameters, and source links for each state’s visitation guidance.
Updated State Testing Tracker (8.14.20). Updated with all responses from you since yesterday, and with additional information found on several others states.
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Total positive cases: 81,006
Total deaths: 2,926
Total tested: 914,633
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