Protective masks and other safety equipment remains in critically short supply at dozens of New Jersey nursing homes, as state officials announced plans to bring in outside consultants to look at the handling of the coronavirus crisis in New Jersey’s long-term care facilities.
At the same time, state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said her department is moving to test every nursing home resident and nursing facility worker in New Jersey.
Gov. Phil Murphy said Manatt Health, a national health advisory practice, will be tasked with making recommendations to the state on “systemic reform” related to long-term care facilities in the state.
“We are taking aggressive measures within state government to protect the residents and staff at these facilities," Murphy said during his daily coronavirus press briefing in Trenton. “But we also know we won’t have all the answers. We will also need to look more broadly at this issue.”
The so-called “rapid review” of three weeks or less will look at the state’s 575 long-term care facilities, seeking ways to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and reduce impacts of future outbreaks, officials said, and come up with a set of recommendations. They did not immediately disclose what the firm will be paid.
Murphy said the review will be led by Cindy Mann, former deputy administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and a partner with Manatt Health, along with Carol Raphael, senior advisor at Manatt Health who served as chief executive officer and president of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York.
“They will be working with us on a very tight timeframe,” said Persichilli. “The review will look at what additional protocols, resources and equipment should be put in place to best protect our residents.”
The health commissioner, who said the team from Manatt will “hit the ground running,” will look at outbreak protocols and “resiliency against future outbreaks.”
As an increasing number of residents and staff have tested positive for COVID-19, nursing homes across the state have continued to complain about shortages in personal protective equipment, or PPE — such as surgical masks, N95 respirators, face shields and gowns to contain the spread of the virus.
Persichilli said 10.7 million pieces of safety gear has been distributed, but a number of facilities remain short of what is needed.
“We recognize even today there are still challenges,” she acknowledged.
Meanwhile, the number of long-term care facilities reporting cases of COVID-19 continues to increase, and the number of cases continues to increase along with it. There are currently 513 nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in the state that have reported 23,345 COVID-19 cases.
According to the latest data, 4,261 nursing home residents in New Jersey have died.
Earlier this week, Murphy said the state’s Attorney General’s Office would expand an investigation into long-term care facilities that he said have experienced what he called a “disproportionate number of deaths.” That investigation began after the tragedy at the Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center, where 17 bodies were discovered in a makeshift morgue on Easter Sunday.
The governor has repeatedly said the long-term care issue facing the state has been among its biggest challenges.
Officials have asked for anyone with information about misconduct in any facility to report those allegations through a special tips hotline. An on-line link, covid19.nj.gov/ltc, will allow them to alert the state to problems anonymously.
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Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com.