The coronavirus pandemic’s “devastating impact” on nursing homes led to a 32% spike in overall mortality rate among Medicare residents during 2020, according to a new report by the Office of Inspector General. The spike means there were 169,291 more deaths in 2020 than would be expected if the mortality rate had remained the same as in 2019. There were 3.1 million Medicare beneficiaries who resided in nursing homes in 2020.
Each month of 2020 had a higher mortality rate than the corresponding month a year earlier. In April 2020 alone, a total of 81,484 Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes died — more than twice the number in April 2019.
Federal investigators added that the data shows the pandemic had “far-reaching implications for all nursing home beneficiaries, beyond those who had or likely had COVID-19.” This blog has previously addressed the higher rate of medical mistakes and errors and neglect that occurred amidst the pandemic as well as the horrific impacts from isolation, loneliness, and lack of psychological care and treatment.
The findings also revealed that more than forty percent of Medicare beneficiaries (1.3 million beneficiaries), in nursing homes had or likely had COVID-19 in 2020. The number of infected beneficiaries swelled dramatically during the spring of 2020, with just over 21,000 diagnosed as having or likely having the disease between January and March. By the end of June, the number was close to 419,000.
Federal researchers also found about half of Black, Hispanic and Asian beneficiaries in nursing homes had or likely had COVID-19 in 2020. Each group was more likely than their white counterparts to contract the disease.
Harvard health policy expert David Grabowski, Ph.D., said those who work in the field “knew this was going to be bad” but didn’t think “it was going to be this bad.” “This was not individuals who were going to die anyway,” Grabowski told the Associated Press. “We are talking about a really big number of excess deaths.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes,” the government watchdog agency wrote. “The toll that the COVID pandemic has taken on Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes demonstrates the need for increased action to mitigate the effects of the ongoing pandemic and to avert such tragedies from occurring in the future.”
The report is the first in a three-part series focusing on the impact of COVID-19 in nursing homes. Upcoming analyses are expected to focus on strategies nursing homes have used to combat the pandemic.
Source: D. Brown, "Nursing home death rate soared 32 percent in 2020," McKnight's Longterm Care News (June 23, 2021).
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