Meeting the Challenges Presented by COVID-19: Nursing Homes

Nursing homes have been at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Residents in these homes have been particularly affected by the disease, as they are predominantly elderly individuals who have underlying medical conditions and live in close quarters. To prevent and mitigate future outbreaks, it is important that we understand how nursing homes experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. This nationwide, three-part study will examine how the pandemic affected nursing homes. The first part will analyze the extent to which Medicare beneficiaries residing in nursing homes were diagnosed with COVID-19 and describe the characteristics of those who were at greater risk. The second part will describe the characteristics of the nursing homes that were hardest hit by the pandemic (i.e., homes with high numbers of beneficiaries who had COVID-19). The third part will describe the strategies nursing homes used to mitigate the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19. These challenges include procuring critical supplies, testing residents and staff, isolating high numbers of contagious residents, caring for those afflicted, and protecting residents and staff on a scale never before experienced in this country.

Announced or Revised	Agency	Title	Component	Report Number(s)	Expected Issue Date (FY)
Revised	Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services	Meeting the Challenges Presented by COVID-19: Nursing Homes	Office of Evaluation and Inspections	OEI-02-20-00490; OEI-02-20-00490; OEI-02-20-00492	2023