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This data note examines state-level data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in long-term care facilities through June prior to the recent rise in cases and deaths nationally linked to the spread of the Delta variant. It finds long-term care deaths down 96% from their peak in December as the nation's vaccination effort began.
States are currently developing plans to access an increased federal matching rate (“FMAP”) for Medicaid HCBS spending established in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021. In the future, states may also be able to access increased HCBS funds proposed in the Biden Administration’s American Jobs Plan and the Better Care Better Jobs Act recently introduced in Congress. This brief highlights examples of Medicaid HCBS policy changes authorized through Section 1115 demonstration waivers in…
This issue brief places the American Jobs Plan in the context of current Medicaid HCBS spending and considers how policymakers might allocate the new funding, as the proposal to date includes little detail.
As of Feb. 14, 2021, weekly new deaths among nursing home residents have decreased by 83% since long-term care vaccination efforts started at the end of December, compared to a 67% increase in new deaths among all non-nursing home residents during the same period. Learn more in this Chart of the Week.
This brief takes a closer look at multiple measures beyond waiver waiting lists to evaluate state choices about optional Medicaid eligibility pathways, spending, and services for seniors and people with disabilities as of 2018. The analysis draws on several KFF resources, including 50-state surveys of Medicaid financial eligibility pathways for seniors and people with disabilities, HCBS waiver programs, and state plan benefits offered, as well as state Medicaid LTSS expenditures reported by Mathematica.
Long-term care facility (LTCF) cases and deaths were highest in the final two months of 2020 in many states, mirroring the spike in total COVID-19 case numbers and deaths this winter.
As the Biden Administration takes office, the ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic and related economic downturn are the key issues that will substantially shape Medicaid coverage and financing policy in the year ahead.
With the pandemic taking a heavy toll among older Americans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and most states have placed a high priority on vaccinating residents and staff of long-term care facilities. People in nursing homes and other long-term care settings account for 6 percent of cases but 38 percent of deaths from COVID-19, a share that has remained largely consistent throughout the pandemic, according to KFF’s updated analysis. KFF held an interactive…
For some regions of the country, recent months have brought the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities since the start of the pandemic, a new KFF analysis of state-reported cases and death shows, underscoring the importance of current efforts to vaccinate this high priority group. The novel coronavirus has had a disproportionate impact on older adults in general and nursing home and other long-term care facility residents and staff in particular. Six percent of…
This issue brief reviews findings from 30 studies that have examined potential factors associated with COVID-19 cases and/or deaths in long-term care facilities.
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