AARP MA State Director Mike Festa Testifies Before the Joint Commitee on Elder Affairs Regarding Long Term Care Facility and Elder Housing COVID-19 reporting

TESTIMONY OF MIKE FESTA, STATE DIRECTOR AARP MASSACHUSETTS

REGARDING HOUSE BILL NO. 4635 - AN ACT RELATIVE TO LONG TERM CARE FACILITY AND ELDER HOUSING COVID-19 REPORTING

BEFORE THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON ELDER AFFAIRS

April 16, 2020 Boston, Massachusetts

Good afternoon Chairwomen Balser and Jehlen and members of the committee. My name is Mike Festa and I am the state director of AARP Massachusetts. AARP Massachusetts would like to thank the Joint Committee on Elder Affairs for the opportunity to comment in support of House Bill No. -An 4635Act Relative To Long Term Care Facility And Elder Housing Covid-19 Reporting. AARP is a nonprofit, non-partisan membership organization for people 50 and over. We have nearly 38 million members nationwide and 775,000 members in the Commonwealth.

On April 7, we wrote to Governor Baker and his Administration with some concerns regarding the need for greater transparency around the measures being taken to protect nursing home residents. While several of these concerns remain unaddressed, and we look forward to attention to them soon. And, we appreciate the quick response of the General Court to address these issues.

In the intervening week, the situation facing skilled nursing facilities has become more dire. Yesterday, the Department of Public Health announced 378 deaths, nearly 44 percent of which have been reported in long term care facilities. We fear that these statistics are trending in the wrong direction.

We urge you to make the following amendments to the bill language as caregivers and family members need and deserve to have this information for their own health decisions and as they consider possible next steps and interventions for their loved ones.

In section (b) – please add staffing levels at both licensed and unlicensed facilities:

(b) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, assisted living residences, elderly housing facilities and long-term care facilities shall report daily to the local department of health in the municipality where said assisted living residences, elderly housing facilities or long-term care facilities are located or to the Massachusetts department of public health the number of known COVID-19 positive cases and mortalities in the facility and staffing levels both licensed and unlicensed.

In section (c) – please add language to identify all long term care facilities by name and post it publicly:

(c) The department of public health shall report weekly the number of COVID-19 positive cases and mortalities at assisted living residences, elderly housing facilities and long-term care facilities to the house and senate committees on ways and means and post the report on its website. The report shall, at a minimum, identify each assisted living residence, elderly housing facility and long-term care facility by name, associate the number of COVID-19 positive cases to each facility, and any reductions in staffing levels compared to staffing levels before the declaration of the state emergency. The department shall also report demographic data of COVID-19 positive cases and mortalities including race, age, and sex of cases and mortalities in aggregate form.

Please add section (d) – please add language requiring all long term care facilities to report on known COVID-19 positive cases and mortalities.

(d) Each assisted living residence, elderly housing facility and long-term care facility shall report daily to state long term care ombudsman, resident’s families, guardians and legally authorized representatives (as per state law) the number of known COVID-19 positive cases among residents and staff and mortalities in the facility and any reductions in staffing levels compared to staffing levels before the declaration of the state emergency.

We appreciate the efforts the Administration has made to date, but the increasing number of deaths in Massachusetts SNFs indicates that time is of the essence to take additional steps and ensure the public has the information they need.

We urge the Committee to favorably pass this bill with the recommended language. Thank you.