Over 730,000 residents have recovered from COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to a new report from the American Healthcare Association and National Center for Assisted Living.
The March 24 report follows a March 17 report from the organization highlighting quality improvements in the industry over the last decade.
"Nursing homes should be recognized for their efforts during this once-in-a-lifetime global crisis," stated Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL. "And as we continue to focus on improving the quality of life for our residents, lawmakers and health policy officials must also work with us to implement lasting change by providing resources necessary to further enhance care."
Six findings:
- Long-term nursing home residents saw 15 percent fewer hospitalizations during the pandemic.
- Short-term residents are seeing an 8 percent functional improvement during COVID-19.
- Seventy-two percent of more than 110,000 infection control focused inspections of nursing homes conducted from 2020-2022 were deficiency-free.
- Nearly 60 percent of nursing home resident COVID-19 deaths occurred in the first seven months of the pandemic.
- The risk of COVID-19 mortality for people 85 years and older is 340 times higher than those 18 to 29.
- High spread in the community is often correlated with outbreaks in nursing homes.
- Residents were four times less likely to succumb to COVID-19 during the omicron surge compared to the height of the 2020 winter surge.