Trump Administration's COVID-19 Response: Nursing Home Testing Plans and Telehealth Expansion

The Trump administration's COVID-19 response has sparked controversy with its plan to provide every nursing home with a fast COVID-19 testing machine, but with a catch: the government will only provide kits to test residents once and staff twice, sparking concerns that the initiative may not be enough to combat the spread of the virus in these high-risk facilities. Meanwhile, the administration has signed an executive order to expand telehealth services for Medicare patients, particularly in rural areas, but critics argue that more needs to be done to ensure equitable access to this service.

Key Takeaways:

• The Trump administration's plan to provide fast COVID-19 testing machines to every nursing home has been criticized for its limitations, including only testing residents once and staff twice.
• Nursing homes house a small percentage of the population, but as many as 40% of COVID-19 deaths occur in these facilities, sparking concerns about the effectiveness of the testing plan.
• The cost of testing employees in nursing homes could run from $19,000 to nearly $38,000 a week, with some critics arguing that the $5 billion fund allocated by the White House may not be enough to cover these costs.
• The administration has cited estimates of 2,400 fast-test machines and hundreds of thousands of test kits being delivered by mid-August, but some experts have questioned whether this will be enough to combat the spread of the virus.
• Telehealth services have been expanded for Medicare patients in rural areas, but critics argue that more needs to be done to ensure equitable access to these services.
• The executive order also sets up an experiment to provide predictable Medicare payments to hospitals in rural areas in exchange for better performance on some measures of quality.
• Services that telehealth can handle include emergency room visits, nurse consultations, and speech and occupational therapy.
• Medicare has already expanded its coverage for telehealth due to the pandemic, but this will end in most areas when the emergency ends.
• Over 155,000 Americans have died from the virus, and more than 4.6 million have been infected with COVID-19, prompting McDonald's, Target, and Gap to require both staff and shoppers to wear face masks.

Statistics:

• Over 155,000 Americans have died from the COVID-19 virus.
• More than 4.6 million Americans have been infected with COVID-19.
• 40% of COVID-19 deaths occur in nursing homes.
• 14 weeks is the estimated time it could take to get a machine to every nursing home.
• $19,000 to $38,000 a week is the estimated cost of testing employees in nursing homes.
• $5 billion is the amount allocated by the White House to cover costs associated with the testing plan.
• 2,400 is the estimated number of fast-test machines that will be delivered by mid-August.
• Hundreds of thousands of test kits will be delivered by mid-August.
• 90% of Target stores required customers to wear masks due to local and state regulations.
• Over 2 million Medicare patients used telehealth services in the last week of April.

Sources:

• Associated Press
• CBS News
• HealthDay
• Johns Hopkins University
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
• LeadingAge of Texas
• University of Chicago