New York (May 1, 2020)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is encouraged that the White House has established a Coronavirus Commission for Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes as part of our national response to COVID-19. This interprofessional task force will now assess action on COVID-19 for a critical and disproportionately impacted group: Older American residents in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
“As we’ve already learned, outbreaks in nursing homes are a foreseeable consequence of this pandemic, even with our frontline providers working as valiantly as they are,” notes AGS Chief Executive Officer Nancy Lundebjerg, MPA. “Our advocacy at the AGS has emphasized ensuring that all people—especially those most at risk—receive the care they need. We urge the Administration to ensure the task force includes experts important to public health planning, such as geriatrics health professionals and nursing home administrators. We also look forward to working with the Administration to advance the task force’s work in key areas, like prioritizing testing and safety for older adults and those who care for them in long-term care.”
More than 15,000 nursing homes care for the oldest and most chronically ill Americans, who are also among the most susceptible to COVID-19 and its complications, such as respiratory failure and death. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts at the AGS have been focused on the needs of older adults, with unique attention to caring for older people in nursing homes and other care settings.
Across a dedicated policy brief published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and several letters sent to legislative and regulatory leaders, the AGS offered an array of suggestions for improving treatment, care, and prevention. These include:
- Widespread COVID-19 testing and contact tracing. Access to accurate, rapid results represents our best chance for identifying asymptomatic carriers as well as those with COVID-19 symptoms. Already, experts’ current estimates of the U.S. need for testing range from 750,000 tests per week to more than 22 million per day. To protect those in long-term care, the AGS continues to encourage the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to add nursing homes to their top priority level (“Priority 1”) for COVID-19 testing. Doing so holds promise for improving the speed of diagnosis and care for those most at risk, while also reducing the likelihood for further COVID-19 transmissions, an alarming strain on our health systems across its critical pressure points.
- Adequate supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) to support continued infection control and prevention. The AGS agrees with public health experts and scientists, who have recommended we dramatically scale up production and distribution of PPE to achieve appropriate, aggressive infection control, and prevention.
- More expansive workforce training to serve the needs of us all as we age. At a time when our nation is facing a significant shortage of geriatrics healthcare providers and academics with the expertise to train these professionals, the AGS believes the number of educational and training opportunities in geriatrics and gerontology must be expanded, including and perhaps especially as we learn more about the unique care needs of older adults during COVID-19. For example, all nursing home staff caring for residents who test positive for COVID-19 should be trained in infection control, the use of PPE, and recognition of COVID-19 symptoms. They also should receive any other training in accordance with federal, state, or local guidance. Resources—including rapidly developed online training tools—should be provided to support innovative training and mentoring for healthcare professionals and workers who have been mobilized quickly into new settings of care.
More information about the AGS response to COVID-19 can be found at the society’s information hub, AmericanGeriatrics.org/COVID19.
About the American Geriatrics Society
Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) is a nationwide, not-for-profit society of geriatrics healthcare professionals that has—for more than 75 years—worked to improve the health, independence, and quality of life of older people. Its nearly 6,000 members include geriatricians, geriatric nurses, social workers, family practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, and internists. The Society provides leadership to healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public by implementing and advocating for programs in patient care, research, professional and public education, and public policy. For more information, visit AmericanGeriatrics.org.