As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues its global spread, states and cities across the country are taking serious measures, including stay-at-home orders, to “flatten the curve” and prevent more infections.
Residents of long-term care facilities are especially vulnerable, according to a recent study from the Kaiser Family Foundation that collected data from 1.3 million residents receiving care in 15,483 nursing facilities in the U.S. High occupancy rates put residents at a higher risk of contagion; 4 in 5 nursing facility beds were filled nationwide. Around 16% of all residents received respiratory therapies, including respirators, ventilators, oxygen, inhalation therapy, and other treatments. Sadly, in 2019 close to 40% of facilities had at least one infection control deficiency.
On March 13, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued new guidance for long-term care facilities to help protect residents from COVID-19. CMS recommends that facilities:
- Restrict all visitors and nonessential personnel, with some exceptions, such as for end-of-life care
- Cancel all group activities and communal dining
- Remind residents to practice social distancing and frequent hand hygiene
- Start active screening of residents and healthcare personnel for fever and respiratory symptoms
In response to COVID-19, RESIDE Admissions strongly encourages facilities to admit new residents remotely. Restricting visitors is an essential component for the health and safety of all residents and staff. Reside helps you balance the need to admit new residents while also restricting visitor access during the crisis.
With RESIDE’s paperless admissions software, families complete the admissions contract remotely, from anywhere on any Smart device using a secure link. RESIDE is not just a scanned-in version of the paperwork, but rather a customized app that gently walks a resident or family through information and questions pertaining to the admission. Plus, your staff can measure and monitor the entire process, identify missing pieces, and troubleshoot questions remotely from the RESIDE Dashboard. Submitting admissions paperwork remotely complies with CDC guidelines on social distancing and safeguards the health and safety of current residents and facility staff.
“Despite the visitation barriers we are facing with COVID-19, RESIDE has allowed our facilities to continue on with our resident agreements due to RESIDE’s email and web-based applications,” said Melissa Corey, Controller/Contract Manager at Citadel Healthcare. “It’s a wonderful feeling that these capabilities were already in place so we can spend more time concentrating on other operational challenges associated with COVID-19.”
Request a demo, and stay compliant during COVID-19.
