Co-Sponsorship Memo Details

 
The COVID-19 crisis is most acute for our seniors in:
1. “Long Term Care Nursing Facilities” as defined by section 802.1 of the Healthcare Facilities Act (Act 48 of 1979);
2. “Personal Care Homes” as defined by Section 1001 of the Human Services Code (Act 21 of 1967)
3. “Assisted Living Residences” as defined by Section 1001 of the Human Services Code. 

I am introducing a bill which will establish a framework to protect our seniors and others living in a long term care nursing facility, a personal care home and an assisted living residence. Further, the bill provides an appropriation of $500,000,000 from Pennsylvania’s allotment of $3.9 billion from the federal government to pay for this endeavor. 

The proposal accomplishes its stated goal

1. by establishing a coordinated, collaborative public private partnership approach that includes multiple stakeholders; and
2. by assigning accountability to regional academic health system collaboratives that can administer/manage personnel, protocols, testing, and expenditures to protect the seniors in these facilities.By so doing, these health collaboratives will ensure consistency of programs, response and study of clinical and public health outcome.

The monies will be appropriated to the Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA) for distribution to the health collaboratives.  The CFA will divide the state into regions delineating all of the facilities within the parameters of a region.   There are 697 nursing homes statewide, 1,143 personal care homes statewide and 58 assisted living facilities.

After receiving proposals, the CFA will contract with health collaborative administrators (which must be academic health systems) to operate, manage and administer the program in each region to protect residents in these facilities from COVID-19. 

As of this date, Pennsylvania has unfortunately had 3,106 deaths attributable to COVID-19.  Of those 3,106 deaths, 2,108 were citizens who lived in a nursing home or personal care home.  Thus so, 67.9% of those deaths were senior citizens in these nursing homes or personal care homes.