# COVID-19 Nursing Home Protection Act of 2021

This bill is designed to strengthen safety and accountability at nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on making sure nursing homes follow proper infection control procedures, maintain adequate staffing levels, and are transparent about what's happening inside their facilities.

The bill requires nursing homes to have enough trained staff on hand to properly care for residents and prevent disease spread. It also mandates that facilities report COVID-19 cases and deaths to residents' families and to state health authorities so people know what's actually happening at these facilities. Additionally, the bill establishes stronger infection control standards that nursing homes must follow, including requirements for proper use of personal protective equipment like masks and gloves.

The legislation also creates consequences for nursing homes that don't comply with these requirements. Facilities that violate the rules can face penalties and lose their ability to receive Medicare and Medicaid funding, which is how most nursing homes get paid for caring for elderly and disabled residents. The bill also protects nursing home workers and residents who report safety violations from retaliation.

This bill directly affects nursing home residents and their families by giving them better information about COVID-19 outbreaks and ensuring facilities maintain safer conditions. It also impacts nursing home operators by requiring them to invest in staffing and safety measures, and it affects healthcare workers at these facilities by establishing clearer safety standards they should follow.

COVID–19 Nursing Home Protection Act of 2021

Casey, Robert P., Jr.

COVID-19 Nursing Home Protection Act of 2021 This bill provides funds and establishes requirements for Medicare skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and Medicaid nursing facilities (NFs) to address COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019). Specifically, the bill provides FY2021 funding for COVID-19 strike teams that can be deployed to these facilities to help with vaccinations, clinical care, infection control, or staffing. The amounts provided by the bill are designated as an emergency requirement pursuant to the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (PAYGO) and the Senate PAYGO rule. (This excludes the budget effects from being counted for the purposes of enforcing the PAYGO rules.) In addition, the bill requires the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure that, during the public health emergency relating to COVID-19, at least one of its contracts with Medicare quality improvement organizations requires that the organization assist SNFs with COVID-19 infection control (e.g., training materials). Finally, the bill provides statutory authority for the requirement that SNFs and NFs report data regarding COVID-19 preparedness, testing, infections, and deaths. Additionally, the CMS must publish on the Nursing Home Compare website certain demographic information, aggregated by state, with respect to COVID-19 infections and deaths in such facilities.