About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

GAO-21-195R 1 (2021-01-06)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaeckf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Ioo U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE A Century of Non-Partisan Fact-Based Work 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 January 6, 2021 The Honorable Edward J. Markey United States Senate The Honorable Jon Tester United States Senate The Honorable Elizabeth Warren United States Senate VA Health Care: Community Living Centers Were Commonly Cited for Infection Control Deficiencies Prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic Thousands of veterans rely on nursing home care provided or paid for by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to help meet their skilled nursing and personal care needs each day.1 Many of these veterans-around 9,000 per day in fiscal year 2019-receive this care in the 134 community living centers (CLC) owned and operated by VA.2 CLCs provide both short-stay (90 days or less) and long-stay services to veterans. These services include short-term rehabilitation, respite, hospice care, long-term skilled nursing, mental health recovery, dementia care, and care for spinal cord injuries and disorders. Ensuring the quality of nursing home care provided to veterans residing in CLCs-and in all nursing homes-has become even more critical with the emergence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). COVID-19 is a new and highly contagious respiratory disease causing severe illness and death, particularly among the elderly.3 Because of this, the health and safety of the nation's nursing home residents-who are often in frail health and living in close proximity to one another-has been a concern, in particular for the disabled and elderly veterans living in CLCs who are vulnerable to infection. One of the first major outbreaks of COVID-19 reported in the United States occurred in a Washington State nursing home in February 2020. Since then, there has been a rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in U.S. nursing homes, with more than 59,000 nursing home resident deaths reported as of October 2020-which is likely an undercount.4 1A veteran's eligibility for nursing home care that is fully or partially covered by VA is determined by the veteran's priority for care, which is generally based on the veteran's service-connected disability status. A service-connected disability is an injury or disease that was incurred or aggravated while on active duty. 2Department of Veterans Affairs, FY 2021 Budget Submission: Medical Programs and Information Technology Programs, vol. 2 of 4 (February 2020). VA reported that in fiscal year 2019, CLCs provided short-stay services to 2,256 residents per day and long-stay services to 6,561 residents per day, on average. VA pays for nursing home care in two other settings: public or privately owned community nursing homes and state- owned and -operated veteran homes. 3A. Patel and D.B. Jernigan, Initial Public Health Response and Interim Clinical Guidance for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak-United States, December 31, 2019-February 4, 2020, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 69: 140-146 (2020). 4Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), COVID-19 Nursing Home Data (Submitted Data as of Week GAO-21-195R, VA Infection Control 1

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most