Thousands of hapless residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are being dumped like garbage by administrators who want to replace them with more lucrative COVID-19 patients. Nursing homes have already been in the spotlight for their poor track record during the coronavirus pandemic. More than 51,000 residents and employees of nursing homes and long-term care facilities have died, accounting for more than 40 percent of the total death toll in the United States.
Now, according to The New York Times, nursing homes are showing a seamier side of their practices. Watchdogs have reported that they are kicking out old and disabled residents and dumping them in homeless shelters, rundown motels and other unsafe facilities to make room for more profitable COVID-19 patients. The latest figures in 2018 showed that more than 10,000 residents were forced out of their facilities. The pandemic may increase that number drastically, said experts.
The evictions, or involuntary discharges, may violate federal rules that require these homes to place residents in appropriate, safe places and provide them with at least 30 days’ notice before forcing them out.
Money is one reason nursing homes are getting rid of elderly patients to make room for COVID-19 victims. Medicaid covers the long-term cost of care for the elderly who are poor. Private insurance and Medicare reimburse nursing homes at a much higher rate, according to the Times, for short-term patients.
The pandemic has made matters worse. Since nursing homes are under lockdown, it’s been harder to scrutinize their practices, said the Times, and according to 15 state-funded ombudsmen, many are taking advantage of the situation. Last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid increased reimbursement to nursing homes making it more profitable to care for sick patients over a shorter period of time, than to care for milder cases for a longer period. COVID-19 patients could bring in at least $600 a day more than long-term care residents.
“That could be big money for nursing homes,” said David Grabowski, a professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School.
Several states, such as New York, New Jersey and California, have encouraged nursing homes to take in COVID-19 patients to ease the burden on hospitals. According to the Times, approximately 6,400 involuntary discharges have already been issued during the pandemic in 18 states that were able to provide data.
The tragedy is that many of the discharged residents need the medical care that nursing homes provide. Sending them to homeless shelters denies them of this basic right and is downright dangerous, said experts. In March, several groups that represent nursing home residents sent a letter to New York’s health department asking it to stop nursing homes from evicting residents because they are “particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus." They said that the discharges “pose particular public health risks, due to the close living quarters in shelters.” The letter also warned that sending patients from nursing homes, which have a high rate of infection, into the community could spread the disease.
According to AARP, the CMS, the federal arm that overseas nursing homes, said that individual states have the primary responsibility for policing the nation’s nursing homes but must adhere to federal rules that list specific reasons why a facility can legally evict a resident. These include whether the resident’s behavior is endangering others, or if they can no longer pay due to a shift from private funding into a federal program.