Andrew Cuomo Blames Nursing Homes' Greed for Not Rejecting Coronavirus Patients State Made Them Accept

[Ubiquitous]

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo suggested Monday that “money” was partly
to blame for nursing homes failing to turn away coronavirus patients
that they could not care for — after a state directive requiring them
to take those patients.


Cuomo has come under increasing criticism for a March 25 directive
requiring nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients. The directive
read, in part (original emphasis): “No resident shall be denied re-
admission or admission to the NH [nursing home] solely based on a
confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. NHs are prohibited from
requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to
be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”

The policy is being scrutinized more closely as some 25% of the state’s
fatalities from coronavirus have occurred in nursing homes.

Critics argue that the state should not have put coronavirus patients
in facilities housing the elderly, who are the most vulnerable to the
illness. New Jersey and California have similar policies.

Cuomo has insisted that it is the nursing homes’ responsibility to
refer patients to the state department of health, or to other
facilities, if they cannot care for those patients.

He reiterated that argument on Monday, and also took issue with a story
in the New York Post about a nursing home in Brooklyn, the Cobble Hill
Health Center, which told the state in early April that it could not
handle coronavirus patients, but was refused permission to transfer
them to facilities at the Jacob Javits Center or the USNS Comfort, both
set up by the federal government.

The Post reported:

The CEO of a hard-hit Brooklyn nursing home, where 55 patients
have died from the coronavirus, told The Post last week that
he’d been warning state Health Department officials for weeks
he had staffing and equipment issues — yet received little
help.

“There is no way for us to prevent the spread under these
conditions,’’ the head of the Cobble Hill Health Center,
Donny Tuchman, wrote in an e-mail to the department on April 8.

He said he asked to move some patients to the makeshift wards
at Manhattan’s Javits Center and aboard the city-docked USNS
Comfort amid the pandemic, only to be told those two spots
were receiving only patients from hospitals.

“I made specific requests to transfer patients, and it didn’t
happen,’’ Tuchman told The Post. “There weren’t options.”

Gov. Cuomo called the story “a bit misleading,” saying: “The Comfort is
a federal facility, it doesn’t take transfers from nursing homes, it
only takes transfers from hospitals. That’s why the Comfort wouldn’t
take a transfer from a nursing home. Because the specific protocol on
that specific ship said that people have to come from a hospital.”

He added: “You can’t refer from the nursing home to the Comfort. You
can’t refer from a nursing home to the Marriott Hotel, you can’t refer
to the Hilton. Yeah, I know. But that nursing home can call any other
facilty, or can call the Department of Health, and the Department of
Health will take that person and find a facility.”

Cuomo added: “Who cares about just that ship, if the point is that
nursing home should have referred that patient, and should have told
the Department of Health, ‘I can’t handle these patients.'”

He added that nursing homes knew they could lose “money” if they
rejected patients, so they had an incentive to take coronavirus
patients even if they could not care for them without endangering other
patients.

“Whatever reason they want, they call the Department of Health, and
say, ‘You take Bernadette. I can’t handle her. And the Department of
Health takes [her]. Now, when the Department of Health takes
Bernadette, they no longer get paid for Bernadette. Oh! Money.”

Cuomo said that nursing homes were allowed to transfer coronavirus
patients back to hospitals if they themselves could not care for them,
but he claimed that there were no cases in which nursing homes had done
so.

Asked whether nursing homes feared scrutiny from state regulators if
they rejected coronavirus patients, Cuomo said that the reality was
contrary: that nursing homes that could not provide adequate care faced
“scrutiny if they don’t do that.”

The governor was later asked whether he was saying that nursing homes
cared for profits more than for patients’ welfare.

“No. Not at all,” Cuomo said.

He also said that the state had several COVID-only facilities that were
available as alternatives.

[BeamMeUpScotty]

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo suggested Monday that “money” was partly
to blame for nursing homes failing to turn away coronavirus patients
that they could not care for — after a state directive requiring them
to take those patients.
Cuomo has come under increasing criticism for a March 25 directive
requiring nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients. The directive
read, in part (original emphasis): “No resident shall be denied re-
admission or admission to the NH [nursing home] solely based on a
confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19. NHs are prohibited from
requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to
be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”
The policy is being scrutinized more closely as some 25% of the state’s
fatalities from coronavirus have occurred in nursing homes.
Critics argue that the state should not have put coronavirus patients
in facilities housing the elderly, who are the most vulnerable to the
illness. New Jersey and California have similar policies.
Cuomo has insisted that it is the nursing homes’ responsibility to
refer patients to the state department of health, or to other
facilities, if they cannot care for those patients.
He reiterated that argument on Monday, and also took issue with a story
in the New York Post about a nursing home in Brooklyn, the Cobble Hill
Health Center, which told the state in early April that it could not
handle coronavirus patients, but was refused permission to transfer
them to facilities at the Jacob Javits Center or the USNS Comfort, both
set up by the federal government.
The CEO of a hard-hit Brooklyn nursing home, where 55 patients
have died from the coronavirus, told The Post last week that
he’d been warning state Health Department officials for weeks
he had staffing and equipment issues — yet received little
help.
“There is no way for us to prevent the spread under these
conditions,’’ the head of the Cobble Hill Health Center,
Donny Tuchman, wrote in an e-mail to the department on April 8.
He said he asked to move some patients to the makeshift wards
at Manhattan’s Javits Center and aboard the city-docked USNS
Comfort amid the pandemic, only to be told those two spots
were receiving only patients from hospitals.
“I made specific requests to transfer patients, and it didn’t
happen,’’ Tuchman told The Post. “There weren’t options.”
Gov. Cuomo called the story “a bit misleading,” saying: “The Comfort is
a federal facility, it doesn’t take transfers from nursing homes, it
only takes transfers from hospitals. That’s why the Comfort wouldn’t
take a transfer from a nursing home. Because the specific protocol on
that specific ship said that people have to come from a hospital.”
He added: “You can’t refer from the nursing home to the Comfort. You
can’t refer from a nursing home to the Marriott Hotel, you can’t refer
to the Hilton. Yeah, I know. But that nursing home can call any other
facilty, or can call the Department of Health, and the Department of
Health will take that person and find a facility.”
Cuomo added: “Who cares about just that ship, if the point is that
nursing home should have referred that patient, and should have told
the Department of Health, ‘I can’t handle these patients.'”
He added that nursing homes knew they could lose “money” if they
rejected patients, so they had an incentive to take coronavirus
patients even if they could not care for them without endangering other
patients.
“Whatever reason they want, they call the Department of Health, and
say, ‘You take Bernadette. I can’t handle her. And the Department of
Health takes [her]. Now, when the Department of Health takes
Bernadette, they no longer get paid for Bernadette. Oh! Money.”
Cuomo said that nursing homes were allowed to transfer coronavirus
patients back to hospitals if they themselves could not care for them,
but he claimed that there were no cases in which nursing homes had done
so.
Asked whether nursing homes feared scrutiny from state regulators if
they rejected coronavirus patients, Cuomo said that the reality was
contrary: that nursing homes that could not provide adequate care faced
“scrutiny if they don’t do that.”
The governor was later asked whether he was saying that nursing homes
cared for profits more than for patients’ welfare.
“No. Not at all,” Cuomo said.
He also said that the state had several COVID-only facilities that were
available as alternatives.

There are regulations and laws and if the NURSING HOME violates them
they can be sued.

Suppose they rejected an AIDS patient, they will be sued, or a gay
person, they will be sued.....


Now if they deny a Corona Person... they will be sued.


Sort of a catch-22 isn't it?