Shared from the 5/7/2020 Philadelphia Inquirer - Philly Edition eEdition
OP-ED U.S. still failing nursing home communities More needs to be done for the older adults in long-term care facilities, hard-hit by the coronavirus.
By David R. Hoffman
Victoria Manor nursing home has had 52 confirmed COVID-19 cases and nine deaths in Cape May, N.J. TYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer
A failed regulatory system and a nursing home provider community ill-equipped to address a pandemic has led to well over 16,000 nursing home resident and staff member deaths, and serious physical and emotional harm to nursing home residents and their families.
“A society’s quality and durability can best be measured by the respect and care given its elder citizens,” President John F. Kennedy said in 1963. By that standard, our society has failed miserably, especially for older adults residing in long-term care facilities during this pandemic. Most disturbing is society’s muted collective response to the rising death toll. Can you imagine the outrage toward a disaster at a nuclear power plant where over 16,000 people die from radiation poisoning? Yet, coronavirus deaths get reported without any national call to action.
We cannot solve this problem without defining it and analyzing what has gone wrong. “Neglect” sums it up. Federal regulation provides a framework by defining neglect as “the failure … to provide goods and services to a resident that are necessary to avoid physical harm, pain, mental anguish, or emotional distress.”
The enormous failure by the federal government to sound the alarm in a timely fashion, ensure that protective gear was available to health-care providers, and deliver meaningful guidance to nursing home providers cost us not only time but lives.
Interestingly, the last time I was in a nursing home was March 4, during a monitoring visit, and the issue of restricting visitors’ access to the building was discussed with the provider. The nursing home staff was concerned that restricting access by third parties would lead to possible regulatory citations by state surveyors, and therefore was reluctant to do so. Yet would we stop an intruder carrying a weapon into a nursing home? I sure hope so.
Lack of consistent, thoughtful enforcement of the nursing home regulations by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and state survey agencies has created a toxic environment in which reasoned approaches to protecting resident health and safety are subverted by misguided regulatory interpretations.
Often, the regulations impair a facility’s ability to seek solutions for fear of violating a federal regulation or resident rights in the process. We then expect nursing homes to be “proactive” as issues arise without the requisite support. The role of the state survey agencies must be more than finding fault with facilities — there must be more of an effort to provide technical assistance.
The nursing home industry’s failure to adequately prepare for this relentless virus has been deeply upsetting, yet not unexpected. It was known that COVID-19 was coming and attacked the elderly in particular. The experience at the Life Care Center facility in Washington made clear that nursing home resident fatalities were inevitable. What did the nursing home industry do to prepare?
In 2016, the requirements of participation for nursing homes required that facilities establish and maintain “an infection prevention and control program designed to provide a safe, sanitary and comfortable environment and to help prevent the development and transmission of communicable diseases and infections.” This program mandated surveillance, identification of reporting requirements, precautions to prevent the spread of infections, isolation protocols, prohibitions on infected staff having direct contact with residents, and hand hygiene procedures. Were these requirements met, guided by a fully qualified infection preventionist? Or was this regulatory mandate recklessly ignored?
A fully functioning infection control program would have mitigated the death toll in nursing homes. A nationwide review of regulatory compliance with the established program is warranted.
Regulators should review whether facility personnel were practicing disaster drills that plan for isolation, education of staff, evaluation of PPE need, convening planning meetings with the mandated skilled infection preventionist and infection control team, and, of course, anticipating the enhanced challenges associated with staffing the facility during a time of great stress. What was done, and what should happen right now as it pertains to infection control?
The aftermath of this pandemic will lead to congressional hearings, cited deficiencies by regulators with fines and penalties imposed on facility owners, possible civil and criminal prosecutions, handwringing and finger-pointing, and, of course, lawsuits. The unfortunate reality is that none of these actions will better prepare us for the future.
On March 3, the U.S. attorney general announced that the Department of Justice was launching a National Nursing Home Initiative that will “coordinate and enhance civil and criminal efforts to pursue nursing homes that provide grossly substandard care to their residents.” In 1996, as an assistant United States attorney in Philadelphia, I brought the first case against a nursing home chain (13 cases thereafter) and started what would become the DOJ’s nursing home initiative based on the exact same failure of care theory noted by the attorney general.
What has changed in 24 years? Certainly not enough to defend against allegations of neglect by those responsible for the care for some of the most frail and vulnerable members of society.
David R. Hoffman is the president of a national health-care consulting firm that focuses on patient and resident safety and compliance. He serves as a federal and state monitor of nursing homes and is a practice professor of law at the Drexel University Kline School of Law.
June 7, 2024: Mr. Hoffman will be presenting at the 47th Annual Health Law Professors Conference in Philadelphia, PA. The title of his presentation is “The Impact of Healthcare Fraud on Patients and Residents: New Enforcement Approaches to Address Harm.”
PAST EVENTS
November 6th, 2023: Mr. Hoffman will be presenting at the HCCA Healthcare Enforcement Compliance Conference in Washington, D.C. His presentation is titled "Enforcement, Compliance, & Long-Term Care".
October 27th, 2023: Mr. Hoffman spoke at the Loyola School of Law, Beazley Symposium on Health, Law, & Policy. The theme of the symposium was "The Impact of Fraud and Abuse Law on Equity". Mr. Hoffman's presentation was titled "New Approaches to Addressing Patient Harm Caused by Healthcare Fraud".
April 26, 2023: Mr. Hoffman co-presented with Jim Sheehan at the HCCA’s 27th Annual Compliance Institute in Anaheim, California. The title of the session is “Health Care and Private Equity: Compliance, Control, Ethical and Mission Risks.”
March 14, 2023: Mr. Hoffman joined with Jim Sheehan as Keynote Speakers at the PBI’s 2023 Health Law Institute in Philadelphia, PA. The title of the session is “Private Equity in Healthcare.”
October 18, 2022: Mr. Hoffman spoke at the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units 2022 Annual Training Program in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The title of his presentation was “Private Equity in Healthcare”.
October 15, 2022: Mr. Hoffman spoke at the 30th Annual Pennsylvania Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care conference in Hershey, PA. The title of his presentation was “Elder Abuse: The Role of Medical Directors”.
June 14th, 2022: Mr. Hoffman spoke at the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units, Resident Abuse Training Program in Providence, Rhode Island. ~ A New Approach to Civil Enforcement in Nursing Homes
April 1, 2022: Mr. Hoffman moderated a panel discussion titled, "Private Equity and Long-Term Care" at the Kline School of Law at Drexel University's "When Worlds Collide: The Effects Of Private Equity on Health Care" conference.
March 8, 2022: Mr. Hoffman presented a session on long-term care at the 2022 PBI Health Law Institute's Basic Boot Camp in Philadelphia, PA.
November 8, 2021: Mr. Hoffman was a panelist at the Health Care Compliance Association's 2021 Healthcare Enforcement Compliance Conference. The title of the session is False Claims Act Liability and Post-Acute Care.
April 21, 2021: Mr. Hoffman was a panelist on a program titled "Could We? Should We? Will We? A Discussion of the Ethical and Practical Implications of Mandatory Vaccinations for Frontline Healthcare Workers". Sponsored by the Eastern Pennsylvania Geriatrics Society.
March 16, 2021: Mr. Hoffman presented at the PBI Health law Institute 2021 on "Balancing Resident Rights and Resident Safety in the Era of COVID19".
March 9, 2021: Mr. Hoffman presented a session on long-term care at the 2021 PBI Health Law Institute's Basic Boot Camp in Philadelphia, PA.
October 20, 2020: Mr. Hoffman was the keynote speaker at the 17th Annual William J. Neff, Sr. Symposium on the Prevention of Crimes Against Older Adults presented by The Bucks County Crimes Against Older Adults Task Force. The title of the presentation is, "Does the Long-Term Care Facility Enforcement System Protect Residents From Abuse and Neglect?"
March 10, 2020: Mr. Hoffman is presenting a session on long-term care at the 2020 PBI Health Law Institute's Basic Boot Camp in Philadelphia, PA.
June 6, 2019: Mr. Hoffman will be presenting a session titled "Long Term Care Regulatory Update" at the 9th Annual Healthcare Financial Management Association's (HFMA-Metropolitan Philadelphia Chapter) Post-Acute Care Seminar in North Wales, PA.
March 11, 2019: Mr. Hoffman presented a session on long-term care at the 2019 PBI Health Law Institute's Basics Boot camp in Philadelphia, PA.
October 23, 2018: Mr. Hoffman presented at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute's "A Day on Health Law 2018". The session topic is: "Codes of Conduct: Do They Really Prevent Unethical/Illegal Conduct?"
March 13, 2018: Mr. Hoffman presented at the 24th Annual Pennsylvania Bar Institute's Health Law Institute. The session topic is: "Codes of Conduct: Do They Really Prevent Unethical/Illegal Conduct?"
March 6, 2018: Mr. Hoffman presented at the Elder Justice Round-table in Harrisburg, PA. The presentation focused on elder abuse investigations in long-term care facilities.
September 4, 2017: Mr. Hoffman was quoted in Report on Medicare Compliance regarding the HHS-Office of Inspector General's Early Alert on reporting elder abuse and neglect. Compliance with care-facility reporting requirements is critically important to ensure that elder abuse and neglect are investigated in a timely fashion. Click here to read.
March 8, 2017: Mr. Hoffman co-presented a session at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute's 23rd Annual Health Law Institute. The program was entitled "Long-Term Care Providers Under Siege" and focused on government enforcement theories and actions being used against long-term care providers.
June 17, 2016: Mr. Hoffman was the keynote speaker at the Elder Access to Justice Round-table Conference, "Scams, Shams and Seniors: How do we keep them safe?" to be held at the Montgomery County Community College, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. This conference brings together representatives from private and public aging agencies, social workers, attorneys, state and federal officials and representatives of statewide organizations and foundations to discuss ways to combat elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation.
March 16, 2016: Mr. Hoffman presented at the 22nd Annual Health Law Institute sponsored by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. Mr. Hoffman will be discussing "Corporate Board Reporting and Corporate Integrity Agreements."
