The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services issued a new order Jan. 20 requiring nursing homes to offer COVID-19 booster shots to residents on-site.

Pennsylvania has the highest number of COVID-19-related deaths in nursing homes in the country, according to weekly data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services updated Jan. 2.

A Jan. 17 report  of an additional 1,511 COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes across the state of Michigan is drawing criticism from health officials, FOX 2 Detroit reported.

Several states have recently announced new guidelines and initiatives to combat rising COVID-19 infections among residents and staff at nursing homes.

COVID-19 infections are rising among both nursing home residents and staff nationwide, The Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 11. 

Rhode Island has the highest percentage of nursing home staff who have received the COVID-19 vaccine while Missouri ranks the lowest in the country, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last updated Jan. 6.

The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living wrote a letter Jan. 5 urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to extend the public health emergency set to expire on Jan. 16, 2022, to ensure long-term and post-acute care providers can continue to offer efficient and effective care as the pandemic continues. 

Members of the New Jersey National Guard will be deployed to assist nursing homes facing COVID-19 outbreaks as infections spike across the state, the New Jersey Herald reported Jan. 5.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Dec. 31 delaying a new law requiring nursing homes to spend at least 70 percent of revenue on direct resident care, and at least 40 percent on staff who care for residents for 30 days.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will not face criminal charges for underreporting the number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes, Politico reported Jan. 3.

New Jersey has agreed to pay $52.9 million to the families of 119 residents who died of COVID-19 early on in the pandemic, an official confirmed to NJ Advance Media. 

More than 250 New York nursing homes and trade groups filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block  a state law set to go into effect Jan. 1 requiring facilities to spend at least 70 percent of revenue on direct resident care, and at least 40 percent on staff who care for residents, the Times Union reported Dec. 29.

Fifty-eight percent of the nation's 14,000 nursing homes are limiting admissions in the face of staffing shortages, causing hospitals and emergency rooms to experience difficulty moving patients to the next step in their care, The Washington Post reported Dec. 28.

Officials from three leading nursing home industry trade groups are urging CMS to allow facilities to institute temporary visitation restrictions as the industry braces for a spike in COVID-19 cases. 

The former owner of eight nursing homes across Arkansas was charged with eight counts of Medicaid fraud and two counts of tax fraud, according to a Dec. 20 news release from the Arkansas attorney general. 

A story about unvaccinated nursing home employees at a Kentucky facility sparking a COVID-19 outbreak was Becker's most-read post-acute story in 2021.

Nursing homes are scrambling to administer COVID-19 boosters to residents as cases are on the rise amid the omicron variant, The Hill reported Dec. 19.

The Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill allotting $300 million in federal money to pay direct care workers in the state's nursing homes, Cleveland.com reported Dec. 9.  

Citations issued to nursing homes, even those for serious offenses, can be appealed to a special federal court in an informal dispute resolution process, which operates "almost entirely in secret," according to a New York Times investigation published Dec. 9.

Advocates are urging CMS to reinstate mandatory federal training requirements for nursing aides working directly with nursing home residents, citing safety concerns, Bloomberg Law reported Dec. 10.