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Articles Posted in Long Term Care Facilities

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A woman named Mary Daniel had been unable to see her husband, Steve, for 114 days because of the coronavirus restrictions at the Jacksonville, Florida senior care facility where he has lived since last July. Steve was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s seven years ago. “I put him in a memory care center and everything was going really, really well. He was thriving with all the people,” Daniel said. “And in March, obviously everything changed.”

Before the pandemic hit, she was able to visit her husband each night and helped him get ready for bed. However, the facility closed to visitors starting March 11 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to the vulnerable population that lives there, so she had to stop visiting him.

Daniel had no idea how long the lockdown would last and started trying to find a creative way to see her husband again. “Originally, I sent an email to the executive director saying, ‘OK, what do I need to do to get in there? Can I volunteer… can I bring a therapy dog? Can I get a job?” At first, the staff didn’t take Daniel up on her offers, and she became restless. She wrote to local and state officials to urge them to end the isolation of patients in senior care facilities.

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The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) and the Illinois Department of Health (“IDPH”) have set guidelines for healthcare facilities, including nursing homes, and other long-term care facilities amidst the current COVID-19 pandemic we are experiencing. These guidelines include visitor restrictions for the facilities. In a nutshell, if you are not considered an essential healthcare employee or a compassionate care visitor for end of life situations, you are not going to get near one of these facilities until…well we are not sure.

These guidelines have been put in place for the safety of the residents and employees, and understandably so. On the other hand, this guidance is missing clarity. The states (including Illinois) and, in-turn, the facilities are left to interpret what the definition of an essential healthcare employee and a compassionate care visitor means. Is a third-party caregiver an essential healthcare employee? Is being placed in hospice, in and of itself, considered an end of life situation? Based on experience over the past few weeks, the answer is no. It should be noted, though, that there is no real legal authority stating such. We are facing a time where loved ones could pass away alone because a facility did not interpret the guidelines to allow a visitor in such a situation. Seeking the courts guidance on the matter may be necessary. Until then, the facilities are given the freedom and flexibility to interpret the guidelines as they see fit.

What can you do until then? Often times, loved ones of the residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities provide care, love, and encouragement to them. During this time, more than ever, this encouragement and love is essential to the resident’s well-being. If you have a loved one in a facility, what can you do during this critical time? Technology has allowed us to connect with people in ways we never could before. Calling and video chatting with loved ones can provide them with the emotional support they need. Just the sound of a loved one’s voice can bring a smile to a resident’s face.  Online games can be played together as well. While we are getting back to the basics during this time, writing a good old fashioned letter is a great option as well.

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Although nearly all would agree that safe nurse staffing ratios are important and necessary, long term care (LTC) facilities (also known as nursing homes) and skilled nursing facilities (SNF) seem forgotten in the rally for safe nurse-patient ratios on units.

Federal law has few requirements for nurse staffing in long term care facilities, and the federal standards haven’t changed in over 30 years when the Nursing Home Reform Law of 1987 was implemented, requiring these facilities to have the following:

  • A registered nurse eight consecutive hours, seven days a week
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For years, attorneys, accountants, financial planners, and insurance sale persons have been touting the benefits of long-term care insurance. “Buy in your 50s and you will never have to worry about your future long-term care expenses ever again” was the common refrain. It was sound advice. With the right long-term care policy your problems were solved. Daily benefit rates typically covered the lion’s share of the daily private pay rate preserving assets for much-needed extras and, in many cases, a tidy inheritance for the next generation.

Unfortunately, any aging population, the unexpected popularity of assisted living facilities, and a steady increases in the cost of care has made it all but impossible for insurance companies to continue to provide the promised levels of benefits without increasing premiums. It can be argued that insurance companies should have seen the baby-boomers coming but no one anticipated that so many seniors would prefer to transition to an assisted living facility foregoing the in-home care option. Insurance companies also expected a much higher percentage of customers to cancel coverage. A common theme across all types of elective insurance coverage types. The constant refrain from professional advisers to clients recommending that they retain long-term care insurance at all costs had the unintended effect of making LTC insurance untenable for insurers.

All of these unanticipated and unintended consequences has had a real impact on seniors. In some cases, premiums have as much as doubled in the past two years and Mass Mutual, one of the largest LTC insurance underwriters, is about to ask regulators to authorize an average increase in premiums of 77 percent.

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Recently, a lawsuit was filed against the Illinois Department of Human and Family Services over delays in the processing of claims for Medicaid benefits. Although the lawsuit focuses primarily on applications for community Medicaid and health insurance benefits, delays by IDHFS in processing Medicaid claims for long-term care benefits can have a dramatic effect on those seniors requiring assistance to pay for long-term nursing home care.

A quick synopsis of the Medicaid system as it applies to nursing home benefits:

Medicaid (not to be confused with Medicare) is a government program funded by both state and federal resources to help seniors and disabled individuals with limited resources pay for long-term care. Although Medicare will cover short-term stays in a nursing home for rehabilitation and some respite care, Medicare provides no benefit to those seniors that need to move to a nursing home on a permanent basis.

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Medicaid funds long-term care services for low-income individuals, but 48 states have opted to give assisted living residents the ability to receive Medicaid benefits, mostly through Medicaid “waiver” programs that promote home health care.  More than 330,000 people in assisted living are receiving more than $10 Billion in benefits to pay for those services.  Because the number of individuals receiving long-term care services from Medicaid in ALFs is only expected to grow, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) surveyed state Medicaid agencies and interviewed officials for a report on federal oversight of these facilities.

The GAO found that there are both gaps in state reporting of cases of harm to assisted living residents–such as abuse, neglect and exploitation-and lack of guidance from the federal government on what needs to be reported.  States are required to monitor “critical” incidents that may harm a beneficiary’s health or welfare, but they have leeway in determining what the consider a critical incident. While all states considered physical assault, emotional abuse, and sexual assault to be critical incidents, three states don’t monitor unexpected or unexplained deaths and seven states don’t monitor the treat of suicide at the ALFs.

“Medicaid beneficiaries receiving assisted living services include older adults and individuals with physical, intellectual or developmental disabilities, some of whom can be particularly vulnerable to abuse, neglect, and exploitation,” the report notes.

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