Families for Better Care executive director Brian Lee published this statement on the Trump Administration’s delayed release of the Coronavirus Commission on Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes’ report:
Mr. President, families have waited more than five months since your administration announced the creation of a “new and independent Commission” that would evaluate the nursing home response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The singular purpose of the group was to provide solutions for “immediate and future” actions to protect nursing home residents “during and beyond the pandemic.”
The Commission submitted its findings and recommendations to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services on September 1.
Now CMS is stonewalling, delaying publication of the report.
Now CMS is stonewalling, delaying publication of the report. CMS’s leadership team is unnecessarily keeping this report under lock and key. This report is about how our nation can protect the elderly living in nursing homes.
Families for Better Care demands you order the immediate release of the Commission’s unaltered report. Taxpayers have shelled out at least $2 million for this report and, as of this moment, we are getting nothing in return for our investment.
Most importantly, nursing home residents and their families expect your administration to keep its promise to “put nursing home residents first” during this pandemic. Scuttling public reports meant to safeguard residents and their caregivers in a shroud of secrecy does absolutely nothing to protect anyone from the coronavirus.
Release the report now.
UPDATE: Trump Administration unlocks the nursing home report the day after Families for Better Care demanded its release. The report calls for point of care molecular rapid testing for all nursing homes. Read the report by clicking the link below.
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