Committee co-chair Rep. Kimberly Poore Moser, R-Taylor Mill, asked a question about how long term care facilities in other states are addressing the COVID-19 pandemic at Wednesday’s meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Health, Welfare and Family Services. (Photo by the LRC.)
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Emotions ran high during testimony on the COVID-19 death rate in long term care facilities during Wednesday’s Interim Joint Committee on Health, Welfare and Family Services meeting.
Betsy Johnson, president and executive director of the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities and Kentucky Center for Assisted Living, shared data showing that more than half of Kentucky’s COVID-19 related deaths have occurred in LTC facility residents.
“COVID deaths in long term care settings have nothing to do with the quality of the facility,” Johnson said. “Some of the hardest hit facilities here in Kentucky are our best facilities. Facilities I have recommended to my parents. Finally, we still need help. We need a lot of help, mainly funding to retain our workforce, which has been decimated.”
More funding is also needed for personal protective equipment and additional COVID-19 testing, Johnson added. According to her presentation, the top three reasons why staff have quit are: fear of contracting COVID-19, childcare needs and fear of exposing high-risk individuals at home.
At the beginning of the pandemic, KAHCF and KCAL sent a request to Gov. Andy Beshear for a Medicaid rate add-on of $55 per Medicaid resident per day, according to Johnson. In April, the organizations learned their request was denied but facilities would receive an additional $270 for COVID-19 positive beds only.
Johnson said the additional funding decisions made by the state have not been adequate enough to address the issues LTC facilities are facing.
After a question from committee co-chair Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester, about how LTC facilities are addressing an outbreak, Johnson claimed there’s been issues with working with local health departments and the state department for public health.
“There’s a lot of ‘you shall do this,’ rather than, you know, understanding that our skilled nursing facilities have been managing infectious disease in their buildings way before COVID,” Johnson said. “They care for these individuals and it’s not a one size fits all kind of solution. So it would be nice to have more of a listen to what we need and you all provide support rather than dictating what should happen inside that building.”
Mackenzie Longoria, the director of public policy with the Greater Kentucky & Southern Indiana Alzheimer’s Association, and Johnson also put in a request for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to hire full-time coordinators on dementia and long term face facilities to advise the state in operations and to aid in securing grant funding.
“I think we’ve also noticed that there’s been a serious lack of understanding of how skilled nursing facilities operate during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Johnson said.
Committee co-chair Rep. Kimberly Poore Moser, R-Taylor Mill, stated she was supportive of Longoria and Johnson.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Moser said. “And I think this all really highlights the need for that — the inadequacy of the funding or the application of the funding just being inappropriate or not taking the time to listen to those who are in the trenches is what bothers me.”
Although there have been some issues addressing the pandemic in LTC facilities, Johnson said expansion of telehealth has been extremely helpful as well as state and federal government waiving some regulatory requirements.