US: nursing homes label Trump administration’s new staff testing targets “impossible” – $31,000 a week to meet testing requirements, hospitals are “big gorillas yelling”

Industry peaks and senior management says universal testing isn’t feasible in many states and the Federal Government is not supplying the tests or funding required to make its demand that all states test their residents and staff in the next two weeks possible.

“There is no clarity on how this help is coming,” President and CEO of peak body LeadingAge, Katie Smith Sloan, said. “We need test results in minutes, not days, to contain the virus and to ensure that we do not lose staff while waiting for results. We also need ongoing testing, not just a Band-Aid.”

As we reported here, the sector has asked for a US$10 billion (AUD$15.5 billion) “emergency response fund” to help it grapple with the estimated 5,000 facilities with COVID-19 cases. Kathryn Hyer, a professor of aging studies at the University of South Florida, has told NBC there is a lack of guidance for facilities and competition with hospitals for resources.

“The biggest single issue is that we don’t have an agreement about what the right tests are or how often we should give them,” she said. “There is a lot of money coming to the states from the feds, but how is that money being allocated? The hospitals are the big gorillas. They are yelling for all that money.”

But asked whether it would pay for universal testing, the Government’s nursing home regulator, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) wouldn’t confirm if it would provide more assistance for operators to administer the tests.

“CMS’s focus continues to be keeping nursing home residents safe and providing guidance for states and nursing homes on safety during these unprecedented times,” they said in a statement.

Operators in New York – which has had one of the highest death rates in nursing homes at almost 5,600 – have also raised concerns about their new requirement to test their 185,000 workers twice a week. Homes say there are not enough kits for the 410,000 tests required (the state has so far tested about 1.25 million people, some multiple times) and they will be unable to foot the $100 to $150 bill per test. New York officials have suggested staff be sent to its free state testing sites – but even then, homes say this could create staff shortages.

“It’s the right thing to do, it’s a good idea, we support it, but the logistics of it and the cost of it need to get thorough consideration,” Neil Heyman, the head of the Southern New York Association nursing homes, said.

Mr Heyman pointed out that a nursing home that employs 100 people would need to conduct 200 tests a week at US $100 (AUD$155) per test – a cost of US$20,000 (AUD$31,000) a week.

“The burden really should be on the government,” he said.

Either way, operators will be made to comply – they face fines of US$2,000 a day or the loss of their license if they continue to violate the order.