The Trump administration released a new toolkit that aims to help states spur greater home health care.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said Monday that the toolkit includes examples of innovative models and best practices states have used to boost home health and decrease their reliance on nursing homes. The toolkit comes as nursing homes became COVID-19 hot spots at the onset of the pandemic.
“The COVID-19 crisis has shone a harsh light on the human costs of a long-term care system that relies too heavily on institutional services like nursing homes,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma in a statement. “While nursing homes will always be an important part of a complete care continuum, many elderly individuals and their families should have access to a more robust set of home care and community-based options.”
The toolkit shares resources to help states rebalance Medicaid long-term services in favor of more home-based services.
It includes case studies and best practices on how states leveraged available federal power to transform their systems.
For instance, Connecticut developed a program that gives incentives to nursing home workers to transition to home or community-based settings.
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Utah also developed a plan that gives higher rates for providers that deliver home health in rural areas.
The toolkit is the latest move by the Trump administration to address the spate of COVID-19 infections in nursing homes. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced last week it will dole out $333 million in incentive payments to nursing homes that improved their quality of care.
Nursing homes have been a major hot spot for COVID-19 cases. An analysis from the Foundation for Research and Equal Opportunity found that 42% of COVID-19 deaths in May occurred among patients in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
CMS itself has faced scrutiny for its oversight of nursing homes during the pandemic.
Sunday, news program "60 Minutes" reported a CMS inspection of a nursing home outside of Seattle diverted critical time and staff resources away from fighting the virus.
Verma blasted the report in a series of tweets on Sunday, saying state inspectors joined her agency and that the facility that was part of Life Care Centers of America was fined $611,000 for failing to timely report the outbreak or manage sick residents.