Tag Archives for RIHCA

Senior groups ask House leadership for an “Age-Friendly Rhode Island” budget

Will House Leadership’s Budget Proposal Create an “Age-Friendly” State?

Published in RINewsToday on February 6, 2023

Over two weeks ago, Gov. Dan McKee unveiled his $13.8 billion proposed FY 24 Budget. To members of the aging community, the reaction is that this budget shortchanges seniors.  In an e-blast sent to 1,800 seniors and aging advocates, the Senior Agenda Coalition of Rhode Island (SACRI) described the proposed budget as unfriendly to seniors.

“Governor McKee’s proposed FY2024 budget that would take effect on July 1, 2023, ignores the needs of Rhode Island’s rapidly-growing older population,” noted SACRI, which represents 21 organizations with allied concerns. The budget document will reflect what lawmaker’s value and “as it stands, this budget fails to value us,” states the email.

Calls for creating an “Age Friendly” budget  

The SACRI legislative alert highlights how McKee’s FY 24 budget proposal is “senior lite,” noting that it provides minimal increases in funding for senior centers and Meals on Wheels.  More concerning, “it does nothing to address the larger investments needed to enable a growing number of seniors to age in the community.”

SACRI says the budget proposal has ignored requests from advocates and the community, even some requests that came from the RI Office of Healthy Aging (RIOHA). Specifically, the Governor’s budget did not include funding for additional RIOHA staff, in particular for its Adult Protective Services that received over 6,000 calls last year.

“For fourteen years we’ve urged the state to invest in improving The Point, but our requests have fallen on deaf ears. At community meetings with seniors and their caregivers of all income levels, we found their most frequent and compelling complaints were about their great difficulties in finding reliable information about available support and service options,” says SACRI, noting that very few seniors, or their adult children caregivers, even know that The Point exists. “But they are very well aware that without reliable and timely information about home and community-based care, their least-desirable and most expensive choice – nursing home care – often becomes the default,” says the legislative alert email,” he stated.

According to SACRI, the FY 2024 budget didn’t include increased Medicaid reimbursements to homecare and nursing home providers to raise their direct care workers’ wages and reduce workforce turnover. Nor did it include financial aid to help low and moderate-income seniors pay their Medicare Part B premiums and co-pays, as many other states have done.

The Ask…

SACRI is calling on House Speaker Joe Shekarchi (D-Warwick) and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio (D-Providence, North Providence) to support an “Age Friendly Budget.”  Why not improve funding for aging programs and services that ultimately benefit everyone in their later years?

More older Rhode Islanders are going to need to access programs and services to allow them to age in place at home. “Seniors strongly desire to “age in the community,” but the services that allow them to do that are often hard to find or simply unavailable. SACRI’s budgetary wish list includes increasing the minimum salaries of senior home care and nursing home care workers to $20 per hour, that’s a 50% federal match.

SACRI also calls for allocating $500,000 in first-time state funding for major improvements to The Point to provide information and referral services for seniors and their caregivers. This increased funding never made it into the FY 2024 budget proposal outlined in Gov. McKee’s Jan. 17th State of the State Address.

“With Rhode Island’s aging population skyrocketing, why not add five staff persons requested by the RIOHA, two of whom will work in its Adult Protective Services Program,” says SACRI. 

Finally, SACRI says the House budget should also include a provision to raise the income level for seniors to qualify for the Medicare Premium Savings Plan to save seniors close to $2,000 per year. Older Rhode Islanders are becoming poorer with higher numbers falling below the 2023 federal poverty level of $14,580 for a single person and with 28% of older households trying to live on less than $28,000 per year.”

The Aging Network speaks…from the front lines

Maureen Maigret, Chairperson of the Aging in Community Subcommittee for the Long-Term Care Coordinating Council (LTCCC), says that the “Age-Friendly Budget” proposed by SACRI is right on target with the needs of Rhode Island’s older population.

“More than ever, we need to address and adequately fund the services and supports that keep older persons living at home as long as possible. It is especially important for those aged 75 and over as one-half may need supports to remain living at home at the same time that their incomes start to decrease while their healthcare costs increase,” she says.

“The ‘Age-Friendly’ Budget Plan also aligns nicely with the strategic objectives and actions of the Strategic Plan of the LTCCC:s Aging in Community Subcommittee yet to be accomplished,” says Maigret, noting that lawmakers should view funds requested as wise investments that will help older adults remain living at home – where most wish to be – and prevent the use of much higher costs for nursing home care.

“Apparently, the Governor and his staff haven’t fully understood nor been sensitive to the struggles that the aging community has faced since the pandemic – more than 90% of the deaths in RI were individuals over 60, and 52% of the overall deaths were congregate care residents. Many are still frightened, isolated, hungry, and need community homecare or a caregiver,” says Vin Marzullo, who served 31 years as a career federal civil rights & social justice administrator at the National Service Agency.

Marzullo adds, “The Governor’s budget doesn’t provide any vision for an Age Friendly RI – which was to begin in FY2023 according to a 2019 RI OHA Strategic Plan,” adds Marzullo. “We have no coordinated path/strategy to build greater local capacity & support services for our growing aging population.”

“The McKee administration has yet to develop a Comprehensive Master Plan for Aging in RI despite a series of community conversations (Rhode Island 2030) during the Fall of 2021 and commitments made to the elderly during the 2022 Gubernatorial campaign,” charges Marzullo.

Other aging advocates had their views of McKee’s budget proposal

While they are appreciative that the Governor’s budget proposal fully funds the statutory nursing home inflation index of 5.4% plus a 1.5% labor add-on effective October 1, 2023, John Gage, President and CEO of Rhode Island Health Care Association (RIHCA) warns about a major issue facing Rhode Island nursing facilities. “The minimum staffing mandate that was passed in 2021 is largely an unfunded mandate and is impossible to comply with given the 20% reduction in the Rhode Island nursing facility workforce just since the start of the pandemic,” he says.

“RIHCA will work together with the Governor, the House Speaker, and the Senate President for short-term relief from the staggering penalty provisions of the minimum staffing mandate statute – fines estimated at $55-60 million in the first year of full implementation and nearly two-thirds of facilities being prevented from admitting residents after three quarters of their inability to comply by automatic admissions freezes,” he says. There are simply not enough workers to employ to meet the mandate, and fines of this magnitude would devastate the industry and lead to further facility closures,” he adds.

“The Rhode Island Senior Center Director’s Association (RISCDA) is focused on gaining funding requested by RIOHA Director Cimini for increased staffing, fully funding the Point, and supporting senior centers more fully with a funding formula that gets us to the rate of $10/person for non-institutionalized individuals 65 and over residing in each municipality,” says Robert Robillard, RISCDA’s president. “Shoring up services with funding will benefit not just our elders, but their families and caregiver’s alike,” he noted.

According to Robillard, the Governor’s presented budget includes a $200,000 increase for senior centers across our state. This is split between 39 communities based on the number of seniors living in each of the municipalities. “As we are pleased to see this movement to support senior centers more fully, [even with the additional funding] there are gaps within the system of care for our elders here in Rhode Island,” he says.

James Burke Connell, Executive Director, Age-Friendly Rhode Island, agrees with Robillard’s assessment of the key role senior centers play in Rhode Island’s long-term care continuum and the need for increased funding. “No, there isn’t sufficient funding toward the goal of making Rhode Island a great state in which to age, and I’m particularly concerned that the RIOHA will be under resourced to meet the needs of senior centers and older adult Rhode Islanders in general. Senior centers are the hubs of services and programs in every community, and they need greater support from our state, principally through significant increases in RIOHA’s capacity to support our aging population,” he says.

The McKee administration responds…

In responding to SACRI’s charges that McKee’s proposed budget was not “Age Friendly,” Derek Gomes, spokesperson for the state’s Pandemic Recovery Office says, “a single budget cannot address everything that the Administration is committed to accomplishing.” He noted that the Administration will work every year to make meaningful progress toward improving the quality of life for older Rhode Islanders and all the goals in RI 2030.

According to Gomes, the Governor’s proposed budget invests in older Rhode Islanders by including an additional $200,000 for senior centers, an additional $100,000 for Meals on Wheels, and $250,000 to digitalize an essential record of service that military veterans use to receive their benefits. The 2022 November Caseload Estimating Conference increased funding for long-term care by approximately $40 million in all, across Fiscal Year 2023 and Fiscal Year 2024, including a 6.9% rate increase for nursing facilities.

The battle of Rhode Island’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget moves to the House Finance Committee and ultimately for a vote on the House and Senate floor. It’s crucial that House Leadership begin the process of increasing funding for aging programs and services to move Rhode Island closer to becoming an “Age Friendly” state. Every taxpayer will ultimately benefit, because each one will ultimately have to access programs and services to allow them to age in place at home in their community.  

SACRI is planning a Legislative Leadership Forum scheduled for March 22, 2023, at Warwick’s Crowne Plaza. Save the Date. Stay tuned for details. https://senioragendari.org/

CMS Moves to Strengthen Nursing Home Safety and Clarity of Consumer Info

Published in RINewsToday on January 23, 2023

To improve transparency of nursing home consumer information, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), will now post Care Compare citations that are under dispute by nursing homes on its website.  CMS will also take steps to protect nursing home residents from being inappropriately diagnosed with schizophrenia which oftentimes leads to improper use of anti-psychotic medications to sedate and chemically restrain residents.

“We have made significant progress in decreasing the inappropriate use of antipsychotic medications in nursing homes, but more needs to be done,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, announcing the new guidance this week. “People in nursing homes deserve safe, high-quality care, and we are redoubling our oversight efforts to make sure that facilities are not prescribing unnecessary medications,” she says.

CMS’s actions advance President Biden’s goal of reinforcing safeguards against unnecessary medication use and treatments that was outlined in his State of the Union address to create an Action Plan for “Protecting Seniors by Improving Safety and Quality of Care in the Nation’s Nursing Homes.”

Tackling the inappropriate drugging of Nursing Home residents

Beginning this month, CMS will conduct targeted, off-site audits of nursing homes to determine whether facilities are accurately assessing and coding individuals with a schizophrenia diagnosis. Nursing home residents erroneously diagnosed with schizophrenia are at risk of receiving poor care and being prescribed inappropriate anti-psychotic medications. Anti-psychotic medications are especially dangerous to these residents due to their potential devastating side effects, including death.

According to the Washington, DC-based National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, in 2008, CMS first introduced a quality measure in its Care Compare rating system that calculates the percentage of long-stay residents (over 100 days) that were receiving anti-psychotic medications. This quality measure was initially introduced to address the practice of some nursing homes of illegally using anti-psychotic medications to sedate residents with dementia or other increased patient care needs, rather than providing appropriate hands-on care interventions.

The measure, excluding residents with certain diagnoses, including schizophrenia, Huntington’s disease, and Tourette’s syndrome, resulted in some nursing homes improperly diagnosing residents with schizophrenia, observed the Consumer Voice, a national organization representing consumers in issues related to long-term care, helping to ensure consumers are empowered to advocate for themselves.      

CMS’s new guidance acknowledges that there has been a steady rise in schizophrenia diagnoses since the quality measure was first introduced, charges the Consumer Voice, noting that it comes on the heels of a report issued by the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) which found that from 2015-2019 there was a 194% increase in the number of residents diagnosed with schizophrenia who did not have that diagnosis prior to admission to the nursing home.

“It is important to note that it is extremely rare for schizophrenia to suddenly occur in older people,” says the Consumer Voice, stating that the onset of schizophrenia generally occurs in someone’s late teens through their twenties.

CMS announced that it will begin to conduct audits of nursing homes with high rates of schizophrenia diagnoses and “examine the facility’s evidence for appropriately documenting, assessing, and coding a diagnosis of schizophrenia.” Facilities that have “inaccuracies” will have their Five-Star Quality Measure Rating adjusted. CMS will downgrade the facility’s Quality Measure ratings to one star, which would drop their Overall Star Rating as well. CMS will monitor each facility’s data to determine whether they have addressed the identified issues. After that, CMS will decide whether any downgrades should be reversed.

While Consumer Voice has expressed significant concern with the accuracy of CMS’s Quality Measure, it supports these actions. The Quality Measure rating often inflates a facility’s overall 5-Star rating on Care Compare. This action will help incentivize compliance and make sure the public is aware of these illegal practices in nursing homes, says the consumer advocacy group.

Increased transparency

Separately, CMS announced it plans to take a new step to increase the transparency of nursing home information provided to consumers by publicly displaying survey citations that facilities are disputing. Currently, when a facility disputes a survey deficiency, that deficiency is not posted to Care Compare until the dispute process is complete. This process usually takes approximately 60 days; however, some cases can take longer. 

Although the number of actual deficiencies under dispute is relatively small, they can include severe instances of non-compliance such as Immediate Jeopardy (IJ) citations. This level of citation occurs when the health and safety of residents could be at risk for serious injury, serious harm, serious impairment, or death. Displaying this information while it is under dispute can help consumers make more informed choices when it comes to evaluating and choosing a facility. This new information will begin appearing on Care Compare on January 25th. While citations will be publicly displayed, they will not be included in the Five-Star Quality Rating calculation until the dispute is complete. 

“We support anything that CMS can reasonably do to improve the health and safety of seniors in long-term care, especially those with cognitive impairment. When it comes to the nursing home industry’s concerns about new CMS rules, we think it’s best to err on the side of transparency. Seniors and their families need as much information as possible to make informed decisions about long-term care,” says a spokesperson for the Washington, DC-based National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, an advocacy group whose mission is to protect Social Security and Medicare.

Local reaction:  “You cannot un-ring a bell”

RI Health Care Association

“We fully support improving nursing home transparency, safety and quality, and accountability regarding our members’ service to the residents and patients entrusted to their care,” says John E. Gage, President and CEO of Rhode Island’s Health Care Association, representing 64 of the 80 nursing facilities in the state. “Eliminating any inappropriate use of psychotropic medications and ensuring the highest quality of care is a shared focus of both CMS and RIHCA,” notes Gage.

“We strongly disagree with CMS’ decision to post of deficiencies that are in the process of being disputed through established CMS policies, regardless of their scope and severity, says Gage. “Posting deficiencies that, in many instances, are incorrect, inaccurately cited or cited at an inappropriate level of scope and severity, during an approved appeals process is unfair and could damage a facility’s reputation unfairly,” he adds.

According to Gage, doing this is akin to convicting someone before their full trial, (prosecution and defense alike) before the verdict is announced. “You cannot “un-ring a bell,” he says.

“As mentioned by CMS, we are just talking about a relatively small number of deficiencies,” states Gage. Rather than potentially posting erroneous deficiencies, he calls on CMS to speed up the process of conducting Informal Dispute Resolutions (IDRs) or Independent Dispute Resolutions (IIDRs) to no more than forty-five (45) days to ensure that accurate information is posted timely. IDRs and IIDRs are two different options from CMS that nursing homes can choose to appeal of cited deficiencies.

“As to the changes to the public reporting and the Five-Star Quality Rating System, we are disappointed that the Biden Administration and CMS have apparently made this determination administratively, without any comment period to allow for an opportunity for nursing homes and the public to provide feedback,” says Gage.

LeadingAge RI

“I appreciate CMS’s goal of increasing oversight of unnecessary antipsychotic medication use, although it should be noted that there has been a National Partnership to reduce the unnecessary use of antipsychotic drugs for years, so the industry has been very engaged in these efforts already,” notes James Nyberg, Executive Director of LeadingAge RI, a not-for-profit membership organization comprised of not-for-profit providers of aging services. 

Nyberg expresses concern about CMS posting deficiencies that are under dispute publicly. “That is taking a guilty before proven innocent approach, which is unfair and detrimental to providers. There is an existing process to resolve disputes over deficiencies, and this seems to short-circuit it, especially when deficiencies can be/and are overturned during the process.  One more blow to a beleaguered industry,” he says.

Long-Term Care Ombudsman

“The inappropriate use of antipsychotic medications in nursing homes has been an on ongoing issue for many years,” observes Kathleen Heren, Rhode Island’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman. “It takes a skilled practitioner who gives a battery of tests to diagnose someone with schizophrenia. This shouldn’t be determined by a hospital intern who spends 20 minutes with an agitated resident in a hospital emergency room,” she says.

According to Heren, schizophrenia has an early onset [about 4% of schizophrenia arise before the age of 15, and about 1% before the age of 10].  A 78-year -old resident does not become schizophrenic all of a sudden because he or she is agitated. “I can say that I have not seen many deficiencies given to Rhode Island nursing homes for overusing anti-psychotic medications,” she says, because of the efforts of  Health Care Centrics, Rhode Island’s Quality Assurance organization, that has provided in-depth staff training on the use of these drugs. The surveyors from the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDoH) are very quick to cite facilities for not following guidelines in the inappropriate use of these drugs.

Heren says that there have been cases where RIDOH has rescinded a deficiency based on the input received by the survey team during the Informal Dispute Resolution process. “There are some facilities that are continually receiving deficiencies and that families should be able to see why a deficiency was given and a facilities response as to why it was considered unfair,” she says.

CMS Actions promote quality of care

RI Department of Health

“At the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDoH), one of our major focus areas is monitoring and ensuring that nursing homes and other healthcare facilities provide the highest quality of care and services in a clean and safe environment, says Joseph Wendelken, RIDoH’s Public Information Officer. 

“We will continue to do everything we can to protect patients and residents, which includes following any new CMS protocols and partnering with CMS on new initiatives,” Wendelken says. 

Senior Agenda Coalition of RI

Adds Maureen Maigret, Policy Advisor for the Senior Agenda Coalition of RI, “Rhode Island nursing homes have generally provided good quality of care over the years,” acknowledging that improvements can always be made. “Both of these changes are intended to promote better quality care,” she says. “If people are erroneously coded as having schizophrenia, they may be subject to poorer care and harmed by being prescribed inappropriate medication. Posting inspection citations under dispute on Nursing Home Compare with a notation they are under dispute is important in that resolution of the dispute could take 60 days or longer and in the meantime the public remains unaware of what could be significant deficiencies which could impact their decisions,” states Maigret says.

The QSO memo — Updates to the Nursing Home Care Compare website and Five-Star Quality Rating System: Adjusting Quality Measure Ratings Based on Erroneous Schizophrenia Coding, and Posting Citations Under Dispute — is available here for review:

https://www.cms.gov/medicare/provider-enrollment-and-certification/surveycertificationgeninfo/policy-and-memos-states/updates-nursing-home-care-compare-website-and-five-star-quality-rating-system-adjusting-quality

Watching over Nursing Homes once again – time for mandated Boosters

Published on December 20, 2021 in RINewsToday

Colder weather is keeping people more indoors now, and Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas gatherings are drawing people together in groups, small and large. Like other states across the country, Rhode Island is seeing a growing transmission of the COVID-19 Delta, and now Omicron variants. Some national sources say Rhode Island’s case rate is the highest.

According to WPRI’s COVID-19 tracking page, 73.7% of Rhode Island’s population, totaling 1,097,379 are fully vaccinated, 9.2 % are partially vaccinated, and 17 % have received no vaccination at all. “But some back-of-the-envelope math based on the state’s tally of daily doses shows nearly 251,000 people have received booster shots or third doses. And earlier this week, RI Gov. McKee publicly said the number is closer to 260,000 people,” says WPRI.

Taking a Snapshot of Vaccination Rates in Rhode Island’s Facilities

Just days ago, AARP Rhode Island called for increased boosters in the state’s nursing homes after releasing its new analysis of the latest data from AARP’s Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard revealed that only 54% of nursing home residents and 19% of staff in 79 Rhode Island nursing homes have received a COVID- 19 booster.

“With holiday gatherings on the horizon, these numbers are a cause for concern for state policy makers, as more than a year and a half into the pandemic, rates of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes are rising again nationally, along with increased community spread,” says AARP Rhode Island. While case rates declined slightly compared to the same time period last month, in AARP’s dashboard, looking week to week, the number of cases increased each week during the four weeks ending November 2, notes the state’s largest aging advocacy group serving more than 132,000 members aged 50 and older.

The Rhode Island-specific AARP Nursing Home Database says that resident cases grew from a rate of 0.64 per 100 residents in mid-October to 1.19 in mid-November. Staff cases decreased slightly from a rate of 0.96 to 0.82 during this same time period. Nursing home resident deaths from coronavirus rose slightly from a rate of 0.06 in mid-October to 0.11 in mid-November.

“COVID-19 continues to infiltrate America’s nursing homes with more than 1,500 new nursing home resident deaths nationally for the third consecutive month,” said AARP’s Rhode Island State Director Catherine Taylor. “Increasing vaccination rates—including boosters — among nursing home residents and staff is key to protecting our loved ones and getting the pandemic under control,” she says.

“AARP calls on nursing homes, state and federal authorities, and others to increase access to and receipt of COVID-19 boosters for both nursing home staff and residents,” Taylor added.

“As new variants emerge and vaccine immunity wanes, the low number of residents and staff who have received a booster creates an unacceptable level of risk since the disease spreads so easily in these environments,” says Tayler, urging Gov. Dan McKee “to prioritize the state’s most vulnerable population and take immediate action to addresses the relatively low percentage of nursing home residents and staff who have not received COVID-19 booster shots.”

According to AARP Rhode Island, while the percentage of residents and staff who have received boosters remain low, rates of those fully vaccinated—those who have received two COVID-19 shots—continue to slowly rise as of November 21. In Rhode Island, 99.10% of nursing home staff are fully vaccinated (the highest rate of any state in the nation) and 94.10% of nursing home residents.

The number of Rhode Island facilities reporting a shortage of nurses or aides rose sharply from 34.7% to 41.7% in the four weeks ending November 21, says the advocacy group. 

Rhode Island’s high vaccination rates can be tied to Rhode Island mandating all healthcare workers be vaccinated by Oct. 1, 2021, say John E. Gage, President and CEO of the Rhode Island Health Care Association. When the 30 day-compliance period ended, those who were unvaccinated were banned from entering the state’s healthcare facilities, he says, noting that termination resulted from failure to follow a reasonable policy set forth by their employer in compliance with Health Department’s emergency order. 

Yet, in at least one large nursing home facility, RINewsToday has learned, staff who refused to be vaccinated were either moved to non-patient-facing positions, or already worked in those positions, and allowed to keep working. An administrator said they are still working on encouraging 100% vaccination. Residents also have the right to refuse vaccination, and masks are required for patients outside of their rooms.

Families visiting had been restricted to the lobby, and at one time received a test in the parking lot prior to being able to enter. Today they are still screened for temperature, and they must wear a mask and complete a health symptom questionnaire. After a federal regulation went into effect several weeks ago easing access for families to visit, the screening also eased up and now tests are not required.

Any patient who is positive for COVID is moved to a quarantine area until fully recovered, and regular testing for patients and staff continues.

Some nursing homes are allowing families to take their loved one’s home for a Christmas holiday and then return after being with outside family and friends.

Gage notes that Rhode Island is ranked at No. 11 of states at a booster rate among residents of 54.1% compared to a national average of 38.4%.  Staff are boosted at 19.1% (#16) compared to a national average of 15.0%.  “Remember, individuals are not eligible for a booster until six months after their second dose of the vaccine series.  This will preclude some residents and staff, he says, stressing more credit should be given to the state’s health care facilities having the highest vaccine rates among staff and the second highest vaccination rate among residents.

According to Gage, the data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Nov. 28, 2021 showed 99.38% of all workers in Rhode Island facilities are vaccinated – the highest (#1) vaccination rate for nursing homes in the country. Residents in Rhode Island nursing homes are 95.02% vaccinated – the second highest rate in the country.

To Booster or Not Booster, that is the Question

“With vaccines mandated in healthcare facilities and proof of vaccination being required to enter public places under the new Executive Order, it seems this would be a reasonable requirement for visitors to nursing homes,” says Gage, noting that this is not allowed according to the most recent guidance issued by the Centers for Med Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

As to mandating booster shots for nursing facility staff, however, Gage warns, “staffing is at a crisis level already. We cannot afford to lose more staff with another mandate,” he says.

“The first rounds of vaccines were given most commonly by third-party sources such as CVS medical staff who came into the homes, similar as they do every year for flu shots”, said one nursing home administrator to RINewsToday – “For the boosters, we did them using our own staff, and ordering our supply from the RI Department of Health.”  Boosters were advised to be given 4-5 months from original vaccination completion – yet in the nursing homes most didn’t get them until 8 to 9 months – as late as the end of October.

However, Joseph Wendelken, Rhode Island’s Department of Health’s Public Information Officer, says that CVS and Walgreens are working to make COVID-19 vaccine booster doses available to all nursing facilities,. “If any facility is looking for additional support getting residents and workers vaccinated, we can provide that support,” he says.

Wendelken notes that there is a requirement for nursing home workers to complete a primary COVID-19 vaccine series, but there is no [federal or state] requirement for booster doses. “The data are becoming clearer and clearer that – especially with the Omicron variant – booster doses are absolutely critical,” says Wendelken.

“Residents [of nursing homes and assisted living facilities] were among the first to get vaccinated so that means their immunity has waned and boosters are needed to avert significant outbreaks and deaths,” says  Maureen Maigret, former director of the R.I. Department of Elderly Affairs and chair of the Aging in Community Subcommittee of the Long Term Care Coordinating Council. “It is critical that booster shots are offered to all nursing home and assisted living residents especially now that visitation has opened up and visitors do not have to show proof of vaccination,” she says.

As of December 15th, the RI Department of Health Department shows at least 114 new cases in nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the past seven days, says Maigret. “We must  remember that over 1,700 residents died as a result of COVID in these facilities and providing booster shots is our best defense against more fatalities for this vulnerable population.”  

Even though it is not a federal policy, a growing number of state officials across the country are calling for the definition for being fully vaccinated to now include the booster shot. With Rhode Island seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases and an increase in hospitalizations due to Delta and Omicron variants spreading throughout the state, many (including this writer) express it’s time for Governor Dan McKee to now mandate booster shots for nursing facility staff.  More important, it must become a priority for the Rhode Island Health Department to make sure that every consenting nursing facility resident receives a booster, too.

President Biden is set to address the country on Tuesday, at a time to be announced. There is speculation whether the term “fully vaccinated” will now include not just the two original vaccinations but the booster as well.

The AARP Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard analyzes federally reported data in four-week periods going back to June 1, 2020. Using this data, the AARP Public Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Ohio, created the dashboard to provide snapshots of the virus’ infiltration into nursing homes and impact on nursing home residents and staff, with the goal of identifying specific areas of concern at the national and state levels in a timely manner.

The full Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard is available at  www.aarp.org/nursinghomedashboard. For more information on how coronavirus is impacting nursing homes and AARP’s advocacy on this issue, visit www.aarp.org/nursinghomes. Medicare.gov’s Care Compare website now offers information about vaccination rates within nursing homes and how they compare to state and national averages.

RI Nursing Homes with new cases (more than 5) in the past 14 days:

Berkshire Place, Providence – 10 to 15

Jeanne Juga Residence, Pawtucket – 5 to 9

Oak Hill Health Center, Pawtucket – 20 to 24

Pawtucket Falls Healthcare, Pawtucket – 10 to 14

Summit Commons, Providence – 5 to 9

West View Nursing, West Warwick – 10 to 14

The full Nursing Home COVID-19 Dashboard is available at  www.aarp.org/nursinghomedashboard. For more information on how coronavirus is impacting nursing homes and AARP’s advocacy on this issue, visit www.aarp.org/nursinghomes. Medicare.gov’s Care Compare website now offers information about vaccination rates within nursing homes and how they compare to state and national averages.