The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is posting the first set of underlying coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) nursing home data. On April 19, 2020, CMS announced the requirement that nursing homes to inform residents, their families, and their representatives of COVID-19 cases in their facilities. In addition to this, nursing homes are required to report COVID-19 cases and deaths directly to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and CMS is making this data publicly available. As part of today’s announcement CMS is also posting the results from the targeted inspections announced on March 4, 2020, to allow inspectors to focus on the most serious health and safety threats like infectious diseases and abuse during the pandemic. This is part of the historic transparency efforts to ensure residents, families and the general public have information about COVID-19 in nursing homes.
COVID-19 Nursing Home Data
The data released shows that as of May 31, 2020, about 13,600 nursing homes – approximately 88 percent of the 15,400 Medicare and Medicaid nursing homes – had reported the required data to the (CDC). These facilities reported over 95,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and almost 32,000 deaths. The next set of data will be updated in two weeks. Going forward after that date, CMS plans to update the data weekly.
For a quick overview of the nursing home COVID-19 data visit here: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/covid-nursing-home-reporting-numbers-5-31-20.pdf
To view the Nursing Home COVID-19 data, visit here: https://data.cms.gov/Covid19-nursing-home-data
To view the state survey memo on COVID-19 nursing home data, visit here: https://www.cms.gov/medicareprovider-enrollment-and-certificationsurveycertificationgeninfopolicy-and-memos-states-and/release-covid-19-nursing-home-data
Targeted Inspection Results
Since March 4, CMS and its network of state-based inspectors have conducted over 8,300 surveys with the results of a total of 5,700 available today. The results of the completed surveys and the reports are available on Nursing Home Compare. CMS plans to post the results of the inspections monthly on an ongoing basis as they are completed.
To view the inspections results, visit: https://www.medicare.gov/nursinghomecompare/search.html?
To view the survey reports, visit: https://www.cms.gov/files/zip/nursing-home-infection-control-surveys.zip
To see the state survey memo on nursing home inspections, visit here: https://www.cms.gov/medicareprovider-enrollment-and-certificationsurveycertificationgeninfopolicy-and-memos-states-and/posting-nursing-home-inspections
To view the frequently asked questions on the nursing home COVID-19 data and the inspection results visit here: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/covid-nursing-home-data-release-external-faqs.pdf
The full list of CMS Public Health Action for Nursing Homes on COVID-19 to date is in the chart below.
