Friends,
I am thankful, amazed, and not surprised by the leadership, resilience, and dedication of the Maryland General Assembly as you meet for the first-time ever in a completely virtual session. Thank you! We appreciate all the Senators, Delegates, staff, and workers behind the scenes, for all you are doing for Maryland.
Please, please remember that job #1 is to steer clear of COVID-19. Remember, stay positive, test negative! The HFAM extended team has already reviewed hundreds of pieces of important legislation. Going forward, we will review hundreds more, and we will testify on dozens more. We look forward to our continued work with you throughout session.
I am writing today with an update on the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine distribution, and related priority issues that impact the long-term and post acute care industry. We appreciate the work that the General Assembly has done and continues to do to address issues stemming from the pandemic and help Marylanders through these challenging times.
VACCINE
Please CLICK HERE for a TV story HFAM brought to WBAL that we did with my colleague Allison Ciborowski from LeadingAge Maryland. The story highlights challenges with the vaccine rollout in independent living communities. Over these last several weeks we have been advocating behind the scenes with the Maryland Department of Health, CVS/Walgreens, and local and federal leaders on various aspects of the rollout. We very much appreciate and value that collaboration.
Today we were pleased to learn that in addition to vaccinating nursing home and assisted living residents, patients, and staff located on the campus of Charles E. Smith Life Communities, that CVS will now be vaccinating people in independent living as well.
We will continue to partner and collaborate Maryland Department of Health, CVS/Walgreens, and local and federal leaders on various aspects of the rollout in nursing homes, independent living locations, and assisted living communities, especially advocating for the smaller assisted living communities.
Please CLICK HERE for a Public Radio piece I did on the vaccine a few weeks back. The interview is informative regarding the current rollout of the vaccine in a few important areas:
- Employee vaccination has hovered around 55 percent on average. With staff education and outreach, vaccine rates are improving in the second CVS/Walgreens clinics that are now occurring, closer to 60-65 percent employee participation.
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HFAM presented to the Mid-Atlantic Medical Directors Association on promoting the vaccine and Monoclonal Antibody Treatments in our sector and advised individual post-acute and long-term care operators on employee outreach on the vaccine. We are partnering with the Maryland Patient Safety Center and the Lifespan Network to continue that outreach in February. CLICK HERE for an interesting story about vaccine uptake in Hawai’i.
- Over the last month we have been partnering with and pressing the Maryland Department of Health for vaccination plans for nursing homes once the federal clinics end. While we are not aware of a current state plan, we know from our work with the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (ACHA/NCAL) that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is working on guidance that will likely make the vaccine available to the trade pharmacies in long-term care (Remedi and Omnicare for example) as well as retail pharmacies.
- In the near-term, I am worried about adequate supplies of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine. Public demand and expectations are increasing. Planners are looking at first clinic data in our setting, as well as planning and conducting second and third clinics. Some local judications are not getting enough. State and local jurisdictions only know CDC vaccine allotments a week in advance. Even with supply challenges, county jurisdictions are doing well given the supplies they have. Additionally, I think Baltimore County is doing an exceptional job with its vaccine rollout. Baltimore City is doing an effective job in partnering as well, specifically with teachers and assisted living.
NOTE: I am seeing more employees taking the vaccines in second clinics. I think it will get harder in the near term to meet vaccine demand. Now more than ever, it is critical that residents, patients, and staff take the vaccine. We will continue to press the urgency and special circumstances on this front with media and with our partner leaders.
Additionally, if the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is rolled out, it will be a game changer in terms of logistics– one dose, no cold storage needed.
COVID-19 CASES
Most of the skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers and hundreds of the larger assisted living campuses that are required to test and report in Maryland continue have small (1-10 cases) outbreaks of COVID-19; most people are recovering. Interestingly, many of the cases in our setting are actually known COVID-19 positive cases of people being transferred from a hospital to our setting knowingly with the virus.
While we don’t yet have data, testing for the new COVID-19 variant has not become standard, and I suspect it will find its way across healthcare settings in Maryland, including ours. The variants are more contagious and spread faster. Thus a setting moving from an isolated outbreak to a hotspot could be indicative of the variant virus. In any event, our sector will continue to work with physicians on this and other key clinical fronts.
FEDERAL PRIORITIES
Among the top priorities of AHCA/NCAL is to continue being a resource for members of Congress, to position the organization and its members as a resource to the Biden Administration on important issues of public policy as we continue to navigate this pandemic, and to continue offering tangible member value and public affairs social impact. We very much value our partnership and collaboration with ACHA/NCAL. Specifically, AHCA/NCAL is:
- Engaged with CVS/Walgreens, the CDC, and other federal agencies on the vaccine rollout.
- Working with federal agencies CARES Act and incentive payments (nursing homes began receiving November 2020 incentive payments earlier this week).
- Communicating and advocating with the CDC on the CVS/Walgreens vaccination rollout in our sector.
- Playing a leadership role in pushing for the much needed stimulus package for state and local governments, workers, other industries, and our sector.
Realistically, it may take months for Congress to pass the next COVID-19 stimulus package. That package is critical to state and local governments, workers, and our sector. Together we will keep pushing. This makes the $500 million Maryland Legislative relief and stimulus package announced yesterday all the more critical. Thank you. Please don’t forget the direct support needed as nursing homes continue to be on the front lines fight COVID-19.
SHOUTOUT - HEALTHCARE HEROES
I want to thank Andrea Dwyer from Sagepoint Senor Living in La Plata, Maryland. Sagepoint is not a member of HFAM and Andrea is a friend and trusted colleague. When a family with a relative in Sagepoint’s care and I needed Andrea this past weekend, she was there to answer my call and help the family immediately. She facilitated connection of her team with the family. In short, when real people were in need Andrea and her team were ROCKSTARS!
As we continue to fight COVID-19 and turn our hope to the vaccine, it is more important than ever that we remember to thank Andrea, and all healthcare hero teams for all that they continue to do in the fight against this virus. Onward together.
Be well,
