For Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes Final Report
Commission completes its assessment of the nursing home response to the COVID-19 pandemic
MITRE (@MITREcorp) announced that its report on the independent Coronavirus Commission for Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes, delivered to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on September 1, 2020, is now available online.
The 186-page report contains 27 principal recommendations and over 100 accompanying action steps organized into 10 themes: Testing and Screening; Equipment and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE); Cohorting; Visitation; Communication; Workforce Ecosystem–Stopgaps for Resident Safety; Workforce Ecosystem–Strategic Reinforcement; Technical Assistance and Quality Improvement; Facilities; and Nursing Home Data.
“I want to thank the 25 commission members—from infection control experts to nursing leaders to a nursing home resident—for candidly sharing learnings and carefully shaping recommendations that have the potential to improve safety and quality of life in nursing homes immediately,” said Dr. Jay Schnitzer, chief medical and technology officer at MITRE, and moderator of the commission. “Members wrestled with challenging, sometimes competing, issues such as weighing infection control practices against psychosocial needs of residents. These complex issues do not have easy solutions, which made the diverse experience and insights of members integral to developing the recommendations and actions endorsed in the final report.”
CMS announced the formation of the commission on April 30, selecting MITRE to convene, manage, and facilitate its activities, including independently authoring and delivering a report on the commission’s findings and recommendations to the agency, in support of four objectives:
- Identify best practices for facilities to enable rapid and effective identification and mitigation of transmission of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in nursing homes
- Recommend best practices as exemplars of rigorous infection control practices and facility resiliency that can serve as a framework for enhanced oversight and quality monitoring activities
- Endeavor to identify best practices for improved care delivery and responsiveness to the needs of all nursing home residents in preparation for, during, and following an emergency
- Leverage new sources of data to improve existing infection control policies and enable coordination across federal surveyors, contractors, and state and local entities to mitigate coronavirus infection and future emergencies
The commission solicited public input via email and its website. Organizations and members of the public helped inform the commission by submitting 632 open-ended comments, formal letters, publications, and other resources, detailed in the final report.
Having completed its tasks, the commission officially concluded on September 1, 2020.
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MITRE’s mission-driven teams are dedicated to solving problems for a safer world. Through our public-private partnerships and federally funded R&D centers, we work across government and in partnership with industry to tackle challenges to the safety, stability, and well-being of our nation.
