Needing Room for Coronavirus Patients, Massachusetts Seeks to Clear Out Some Nursing Homes

COVID-19

March 29, 2020

Massachusetts is asking some nursing homes to evacuate their elderly residents so the facilities can treat coronavirus patients, the newest effort to find places to treat the infected as their surging numbers begin overwhelming hospitals.

One nursing home in Worcester, the state’s second-largest city, has begun moving residents to other nursing facilities in the area. The state also said it is asking other homes to become dedicated sites for coronavirus treatment by similarly transferring residents...

The American Health Care Association and AMDA, the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, said in a joint statement they opposed New York’s move as too dangerous for residents and preferred approaches like Louisiana’s, which involves cooperation between hospitals and nursing homes.

The two industry groups said states should work with nursing homes, and could move residents to create empty facilities for coronavirus patients.

Transferring nursing-home residents can also be dangerous, said Christopher Laxton, executive director of the long-term medicine society, which represents doctors who work in nursing homes.

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