The Indianapolis-based drugmaker said it will enroll about 2,400 residents and staff of nursing homes to test an antibody it is developing with a Canadian biotech. Nursing homes account for about 40% of U.S. deaths from COVID-19.
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The ringleader in one of the largest corporate-fraud cases in Indiana in recent years says his legal team at Barnes & Thornburg failed to disclose a “profound conflict of interest.
Read MoreSome experts are calling for mandatory vaccinations at nursing homes, warning that unprotected staff members are endangering residents. Even residents who have been inoculated are vulnerable because many are elderly and frail, with weak immune systems.
The CDC conducted its investigation of delta variant outbreaks in elder care facilities in Colorado, but that state isn’t alone in seeing nursing home outbreaks as large shares of staff remain unvaccinated. Indiana has its own troubling incident.
The report from the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services found that nursing home deaths overall jumped by 169,291 from the previous year, before the coronavirus appeared.
Advocates for nursing home residents say they worry a new Indiana law expanding COVID-19 liability protections for health care providers will effectively block many lawsuits over neglect and substandard treatment that weren’t caused by the pandemic.
The government guidance comes as coronavirus cases and deaths among nursing home residents have plummeted in recent weeks at the same time that vaccination accelerated.
The past year has been awful for Carmel-based Invesque, as COVID-19 hurt the full gamut of its health care real estate portfolio, from nursing homes and office buildings to memory-care and assisted-living centers.
Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities account for about 1% of the U.S. population, but represent 40% of COVID-19 deaths, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
Those cleared included homes with mounting coronavirus outbreaks before or during the inspections, as well as those that saw cases and deaths spiral upward after inspectors reported no violations had been found, in some cases multiple times.
The state on Wednesday announced a five-part plan that also includes sending 2 million N-95 masks and 400,000 face shields to nursing homes, which have been particularly hard hit by the virus.
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living released a report Monday that said the United States is beginning to see a third spike of new COVID cases in nursing homes due to the increased community spread among the general population.
Dashboard users will be able to search specific long-term care facilities to see reported cases and deaths.
The weekly cost of testing employees could range from more than $19,000 to nearly $38,000, according to estimates. But the Trump administration said nursing homes can cover the cost of ongoing testing from a $5 billion pot provided by Congress, and allocated to the facilities by the White House.
The numbers represent the first official national accounting of fatalities in the 15,000 nursing homes that receive Medicare and Medicaid funding. The tally, however, is incomplete.
The state health department laid out new orders Wednesday in an effort to protect elderly and confined Hoosiers from contracting the disease, Meanwhile, Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard is coordinating testing for nursing home residents in his city.
Both types of locations are considered serious in a pandemic, because the virus can spread quickly in confined spaces. In addition, elderly people in nursing homes or prisons with underlying medical conditions are considered especially vulnerable if they are infected.
Officials at Otterbein Franklin SeniorLife Community say a nurse and therapist also tested positive and are recovering at home.
Capitol Village Healthcare, a 52-bed nursing home at 2926 N. Capitol Ave., closed earlier this year, and had received low ratings from U.S. News and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The penalties will be as much as 2 percent of Medicare reimbursements, and could be worth millions of dollars to large nursing-home chains with locations spread across Indiana and the nation.
The case might never have come to light were it not for a nearly century-old Indianapolis company that had a chance to participate in the overbilling and kickback scheme but called the FBI instead.
Steven Ganote, who prosecutors say was a key player in the massive American Senior Communities overbilling and kickback scheme, was also ordered to pay $7 million in restitution.
