New Jersey begins 'naming and shaming' long-term care facilities with Covid-19 cases, deaths - Top News Headlines

New Jersey officials have begun identifying all of the state’s long-term care facilities and detailing coronavirus cases and deaths that have occurred in them after weeks of pressure from families desperate to know if the outbreak has reached their loved ones’ residence.

“Repeatedly, we have reinforced their obligation to inform residents, staff and families. However, we are still hearing concerns that that is not taking place,” State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said during Monday’s daily briefing, referring to nursing home and assisted living operators. “So, in the full interest of transparency, we are sharing the details.”

According to state data, 10,744 positive Covid-19 cases have been reported at 425 facilities resulting in 1,779 deaths — at least 40 percent of the 4,377 Covid-related deaths that have been reported statewide.

The deadliest outbreak thus far has been at the Paramus Veterans Memorial Home (39 deaths), followed by the Andover Subacute and Rehab Center in Sussex County (31 deaths) and Lincoln Park Care Center (29 deaths). Hackensack Meridian Health Nursing and Rehab-Regent Care Center, Christian Health Care Center in Wyckoff, HudsonView Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare in North Bergen, and the NJ Veterans Memorial Home at Menlo Park in Edison have reported 25 deaths each.

State data also shows 100 facilities have reported no Covid-related deaths, although every facility has reported at least one positive case.

The state noted in the reporting that the numbers include Covid-19-positive deaths, deaths in individuals with pending test results and respiratory illness deaths for which Covid-19 testing was not performed.

Persichilli said state surveyors are continuing to visit all 375 nursing homes and about 200 assisted living facilities in the state to inspect and assess their compliance with state and federal regulations and guidelines.

Between last Thursday and Sunday, Persichilli said, 21 facilities have been inspected with additional inspections planned for this week.

Until now, the state has resisted “naming and shaming” facilities, citing privacy concerns. But as instances of facilities failing to notify patients and their families of the virus’ chokehold among some of the most vulnerable continued to arise in New Jersey and nationwide, both state and federal officials have had to get involved.

This past weekend, Seema Verma, administrator of the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, ordered the nation’s nursing home operators to alert patients, their families and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to any positive cases of the coronavirus in their facilities.

“It’s important that patients and their families have the information that they need, and they need to understand what’s going on in the nursing home,” Verma said at Sunday evening‘s White House briefing.

Persichilli and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy have said part of the reason why cases spread so quickly in nursing homes and assisted living facilities is because staff members, certified nursing assistants, aides and other workers travel from facility to facility — in some cases unwittingly carrying the virus along.

Asked if that practice may be curtailed by the state, Persichilli said she doesn’t anticipate it.

“There’s a reason why they’re working in several places. It’s because the wages are not enough to support what they need to do to support their families, put food on the table,” said Persichilli, a former nurse. “What I’d rather do is take better care of them, making sure that they understand their own health and well-being and how that’s transferred to whatever patient they’re taking care of.”

Murphy echoed Persichilli’s concerns and added of increased compensation for long-term care workers: “That’s something we’re looking at in a very comprehensive way.”

Milly Silva, executive vice president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, which represents health care workers, said in a statement that much of the fault for the rapid spread of coronavirus in LTCs across the state lies not with workers, but rather with some facility operators.

“In light of continued obfuscation by some nursing home owners and delays in informing family members and workers about positive cases, the Murphy administration has taken strong, decisive action,” Silva said.

The union remains concerned about a “significant under-counting of resident deaths,” Silva said, specifically of those who passed away without being tested or who died after being taken to a hospital.

“We will be flagging instances where nursing homes’ self-reported data does not conform with what our members are reporting on the ground,” she said.