The Tuesday Digest is information compiled weekly by Dignity Alliance Massachusetts concerning long-term services, support, and care. We provide direct links to featured articles below. Each digest contains many more articles on key topics including Nursing Homes, Assisted Living, Home and Community, Housing, Behavioral Health, and Covid-19.
2020
Issue #13 – November 24, 2020
Featured:
- (Website) Alex Goldstein – Faces of Covid – Stories of those lost to COVID per news reports, obits & submissions. They were more than a statistic. Created by Alex Goldstein. Narrated Twitter site. (Click on the arrow)
- (Website) Massachusetts Department of Public Health – Crisis Standards of Care Planning Guidance for the COVID-19 Pandemic – This Guidance provides direction for the triage of critically ill patients in the event that the public health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic creates a demand for in-patient critical care resources that outstrips supply. It seeks to ensure that every patient has equitable access to care from which they might benefit, and that tragically difficult decisions about the allocation of scarce in-patient care resources must be grounded only on evidence-based criteria that are clear, transparent, and objective; biological factors related only to the likelihood and magnitude of benefit from the medical resources; and should at all times minimize inequitable outcomes.
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – Guidance on Nursing Home Residents and Holiday Visitation – November 2020
- Washington Post – A Covid-fighting tool is buried in your phone. Turn it on. – November 20, 2020
- Jacobin – Elder Care Should Not Be About Making Profits – November 19, 2020 – Elder Care Should Not Be About Making Profits
- Boston25 News – 25 Investigates: Second wave of COVID-19 crashing into Mass. nursing homes – November 16, 2020 – Includes interview with Dignity Alliance Massachusetts members Arlrene Germain and Paul Lanzikos
- *Wall Street Journal – How Covid-19 Will Change Aging and Retirement – November 15, 2020
Download the Tuesday Digest 13: DAM Digest 013.docx
Issue #12 – November 17, 2020
Featured:
- (Website / Event) Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka – 2020 Virtual Senior Health & Wellness Fair – Friday, November 20, 2020, 10:00 to 1100 a.m. – Focus on management of physical and mental health during the pandemic. Keynote speaker Sandra Harris, State President of AARP Massachusetts on strategies to beat social isolation.
- Kaiser Health News – Long-Term Care Workers, Grieving and Under Siege, Brace for COVID’s Next Round – November 16, 2020
- *Wall Street Journal – Wild Card | As coronavirus soars, hospitals hope to avoid an agonizing choice: Who gets care and who goes home – November 14, 2020
- Long Term Care Community Coalition – Nursing Homes Understaffed at Height of Coronavirus Pandemdic – November 14, 2020
- Politico – Pandemic invades nursing homes again – November 11, 2020 – Care facilities cannot keep the virus out as it spreads through communities.
- World Psychiatry – Increased risk of COVID-19 infection and mortality in people with mental disorders: analysis from electronic health records in the United States – October 7, 2020
Download the Tuesday Digest 12: DAM Digest 012.docx
Issue #11 – November 10, 2020
Featured:
- (Website) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – Long-Term Services and Supports Rebalancing Toolkit – The toolkit provides background information, resources, and promising practices that support state efforts to rebalance Medicaid long-term services and supports (LTSS) in favor of home-and community-based services (HCBS).
- AP News – Nursing home COVID-19 cases rise four-fold in surge states – November 8, 2020
- Skilled Nursing News – Verma: COVID-19 Shows LTC ‘Relies Too Heavily on Nursing Homes’ – November 4, 2020
Download the Tuesday Digest 11: DAM Digest 011.docx
Issue #10 – November 3, 2020
Featured:
- The 19th – Pandemic restrictions may impact the nursing home vote – November 2, 2020 – National nursing home advocate and Dignity Alliance Massachusetts member, Penny Shaw, was interviewed for this article.
- Tufts Health Plan Foundation – How Innovative Community Responses to COVID-19 Support Healthy Aging – October 28, 2020 – The research focused on six communities particularly affected by the pandemic. Four cities—Brockton, Chelsea, Lawrence and Lynn—are diverse and experienced some of the highest COVID-19 infection rates in the state; and Cape Cod and the Hilltowns regions are rural and geographically isolated communities with significant older populations.
- (Website) Kaiser Health News – Look Up Your Hospital: Is It Being Penalized by Medicare? – November 2, 2020 – You can search by hospital name or location, look at all hospitals in a particular state and sort penalties by year. Under programs set up by the Affordable Care Act, the federal government cuts payments to hospitals that have high rates of readmissions and those with the highest numbers of infections and patient injuries. For the readmission penalties, Medicare cuts as much as 3 percent for each patient, although the average is generally much lower. The patient safety penalties cost hospitals 1 percent of Medicare payments over the federal fiscal year, which runs from October through September.
Download the Tuesday Digest 10: DAM Digest 010.docx
Issue #9 – October 27, 2020
Featured:
- Center for Medicare Advocacy – COVID-Only Nursing Facilities: What Happened to A Good Idea? – October 15, 2020 – Dignity Alliance Massachusetts member Massachusetts Advocates for Nursing Home Reform is referenced in the article
- Commonwealth Magazine – Nursing home residents need more help voting – October 19, 2020 – Authored by Dignity Alliance Massachusetts members Alison Weingarten, Arlene Germain, Bill Henning, and Alex Green
Download the Tuesday Digest 9: DAM Digest 009.docx
Issue #8 – October 13, 2020
Featured:
- (Website) Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) – COVID-19 Rapid Response Network for Nursing Homes – The Institute for Healthcare Improvement, with support from The John A. Hartford Foundation, offers the COVID-19 Rapid Response Network for Nursing Homes to support nursing home leadership, staff, residents, families, and communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Included is access to webinars, online and print resources, and links to relevant sites. The site requires free registration.
- STAT News – Covid-19 long-haulers and the experience of ‘hidden’ disabilities – October 7, 2020
- Mathematica – A Study of the COVID-19 Outbreak and Response in Connecticut Long-Term Care Facilities: Final Report – September 30, 2020
- Pioneer Network – Carter Williams, Advocate for the Rights and Dignity of Nursing Home Residents, Dies at 97 – September 16, 2020 – Founder of the Pioneer Network for Culture Change, Carter Williams fought for the dignity and rights of nursing home residents for more than a half century. She advocated through her teaching, writing, congressional testimony, and gentle, but effective perseverance. May she rest in peace and her legacy long endure.
- DisABILITY Issue – October 2020
- The Opinion Corner I: The Desire to Be Free – By Penny Shaw, Member of Dignity Alliance Massachusetts
- The Opinion Corner II: Managing a Small Nursing Home in this Pandemic – By Anonymous
- Long Term Care Community Coalition – Fall 2020 LTC Journal – The LTC Journal covers important issues in long-term care by highlighting policy updates, news reports, and academic research.
Videos / Films:
- Netflix – Crip Camp – A Disability Revolution – 2020 – feature film – Groundbreaking documentary, premiering at Sundance, depicts summer camp operating from the 1950’s through the 1970’s for teens with disabilities which helps build a movement, forging a new path toward greater equality. Executive producers: President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama.
- Netflix – Deaf U – 2020 – docuseries – In this reality series, a tight-knit group of Deaf and hard of hearing students share their stories and explore life at Gallaudet University.
Download the Tuesday Digest 8: DAM Digest 008.docx
Issue #7 – October 6, 2020
Featured:
- (Website) AARP – Long-Term Services & Supports State Scorecard – The fourth edition of the LTSS State Scorecard, released in fall 2020, takes a multi-dimensional approach to measure state-level performance of LTSS systems that assist older adults, people with physical disabilities, and family caregivers. Unlike many other rankings that focus on a particular aspect of LTSS system performance, the Scorecard compares state LTSS systems across multiple dimensions, reflecting the importance and interconnectedness each has on the overall LTSS system. Open the Massachusetts scorecard pdf.
- (Website) Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) – COVID-19 Rapid Response Network for Nursing Homes – The Institute for Healthcare Improvement, with support from The John A. Hartford Foundation, offers the COVID-19 Rapid Response Network for Nursing Homes to support nursing home leadership, staff, residents, families, and communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Included is access to webinars, online and print resources, and links to relevant sites. The site requires free registration.
- *The Boston Globe – Last Words – September 27-29, 2020 – A three-part Globe Spotlight Team series exposes the inequities that follow people in Massachusetts to their very last breaths. It is a deep examination into the uncomfortable topic of death and confronts the state’s failure to protect its most vulnerable in the early days of a historic pandemic.
- *The Boston Globe – We need to transform the way we pay for and provide long-term care – October 2, 2020 (updated) – Letter to the Editor by Dick Moore, Dignity Alliance Massachusetts member
- Next Avenue – 10 Things You Can Do to Support Aging with Dignity and Independence – January 2, 2020
- Next Avenue – 10 Things Every Family Should Know About Aging with Dignity and Independence – November 9, 2020
Download the Tuesday Digest 7: DAM Digest 007.docx
Issue #6 – September 29, 2020
Featured:
- (Website) Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) – COVID-19 Rapid Response Network for Nursing Homes – The Institute for Healthcare Improvement, with support from The John A. Hartford Foundation, offers the COVID-19 Rapid Response Network for Nursing Homes to support nursing home leadership, staff, residents, families, and communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Access to webinars, online and print resources, links to relevant sites. Requires free registration.
- *The Boston Globe – A home to die in – September 27, 2020 – Front page in-depth Spotlight Team report covering Covid-19 pandemic impact in Massachusetts nursing homes and the state’s response. Second in a series of three.
- *The Boston Globe – Lives Lost – September 27, 2020 – A video essay.
- U. S. Senate Special Committee on Aging – The Cost of Inaction: An Update on the Trump’s Administration Response to Covid-19 in Nursing Homes – September 22, 2020 – US Senate report released by U.S Senators Bob Casey and Ron Wyden.
- Dig Boston – Child Care: Who’s Watching Over Children who Watch After Sick or Disabled Relatives? – September 22, 2020
- The National Academy of Medicine – Reimagining Nursing Homes in the Wake of COVID-19 – September 21, 2020
Download the Tuesday Digest 6: DAM Digest 006.docx
Issue #5 – September 22, 2020
Featured:
- Report of Coronavirus Commission on Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes – Penelope Ann Shaw, PhD, Nursing Advocate, Resident of Braintree Manor, and member of Dignity Alliance Massachusetts. Dr. Shaw was a member of the Commission.
- STAT News – Millions of family caregivers struggling to balance work with caring for loved ones – September 2020
- *New York Times – Nursing Homes Oust Unwanted Patients With Claims of Psychosis – published September 19, 2020
- *Washington Post – Pandemic isolation has killed thousands of Alzheimer’s patients while families watch from afar – published September 16, 2020
- *New York Times – Inside a Nursing Home Devoted to Treating Those With Covid-19 – September 15, 2020
- Long Term Care Community Coalition – Protect Voting Rights of Nursing Home Residents – September 15, 2020
Download the Tuesday Digest 5: DAM Digest 005.docx
Issue #4 – September 15, 2020
Featured:
- CommonWealth Magazine – Baker unveils nursing home aid package – published September 10, 2020 – Governor proposes nursing home related legislation that ties staffing and occupancy reforms to additional, stable long-term funding ($82 million) and short-term aid ($60 million) in the event COVID-19 infection rates begin to rise again this fall.
- *Health Affairs – Mortality Rates From COVID Are Lower in Unionized Nursing Homes – published September 10, 2020- Union staffed facilities in New York had 30% relative decrease in the COVID-19 mortality rate compared to facilities without health care worker unions
- *New York Times – The Forgotten History of the Radical ‘Elders of the Tribe’ – published September 8, 2020 – Historical perspective about the Gray Panthers and the relevance of their philosophy and activities today
- The Atlantic – The U.S. Is Repeating Its Deadliest Pandemic Mistake – published July 6, 2020 – More than 40 percent of all coronavirus deaths in America have been in nursing homes. Here’s how it got so bad.
- *Washington Post – The pandemic exposed a painful truth: America doesn’t care about old people – published May 8, 2020
Download the Tuesday Digest 4: DAM Digest 004.docx
Issue #3 – September 8, 2020
Featured:
- *The New York Times – How Many of These 68,000 Deaths Could Have Been Avoided? – published September 6, 2020 – Lead editorial in the Sunday edition of the New York Times
- *Boston Globe Magazine – Preparing a child to be independent is ‘the best gift parents can give’ – Published August 30, 2020 – Reflections of Jo Ann Simons, CEO of Northeast, regarding how her 41-year son who has Down syndrome experienced independent life during Covid-19.
Download the Tuesday Digest 3: DAM Digest 003.docx
Issue #2 – September 1, 2020
Featured:
- *The Atlantic – Ageism is Making the Pandemic Worse – published March 28, 2020 – Article by Louise Aronson, geriatrician and professor of medicine, University of California, San Francisco and author of Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, and Reimaging Life
- Kaiser Family Foundation – Key Questions About the Impact of Coronavirus on Long-Term Care Facilities Over Time – published September 1, 2020 – Just released analysis of COVID-19 cases and deaths in long-term care facilities
- Kaiser Family Foundation – Overlooked and Undercounted: The Growing Impact of COVID-19 on Assisted Living Facilities – published on September 1, 2020 – Just released analysis of impact of COVID-19 within assisted living facilities
- Kaiser Family Foundation – State Actions to Sustain Medicaid Long-Term Services and Supports During COVID-19 – published on August 26, 2020
- Manatt Health – Recommendations to Strengthen the Resilience of New Jersey’s Nursing Homes in the Wake of COVID-19 – published on June 2, 2020 – Detailed PowerPoint presentation – See especially pages 13, 22-50, 53-54
Download the Tuesday Digest 2: DAM Digest 002.docx
Issue #1 – August 25, 2020
Featured:
- The Nation – It’s Time to Abolish Nursing Homes
Download the Tuesday Digest 1: DAM Digest 001.docx