Federal report offers crisis strategies for LTC providers

Post-acute and long-term care providers have an additional tool on how to adjust their operations and standards of care during the COVID-19 pandemic or future emergencies. 

The COVID-19 Healthcare Resilience Group on Monday released a new federal report detailing strategies and resources that providers can use to inform their decision making during a crisis.

The group first noted that any changes to standards should happen along a continuum of three levels of care: conventional, when normal amounts of resources are available; contingency, when the demand for resources begins to exceed supply; and crisis, when resources are exceeded by demand or depleted.  

The report also provided an overview of several potential challenges facilities might face during a crisis, such as staffing, supplies and facility space, and how care may shift under any of those circumstances. 

The document stressed the need to ensure that emergency preparedness plans include crisis management protocols, and that any changes to their operations and standards of care comply with federal, state and local regulations to avoid legal ramifications. It also emphasized that standards of care at all levels should adhere to core ethical principles.