The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the MITRE Corporation has published the membership of the independent Coronavirus Commission on Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes.
CMS seeks an independent review and comprehensive assessment of the nursing home response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency tasked the contractor, MITRE, to solicit membership applications, select the members and facilitate the commission’s work. The commission’s review will help inform current and future responses to COVID-19 and potential future infectious disease outbreaks within nursing homes.
“The unique vulnerability of nursing homes – populated by frail, elderly residents living in close quarters – to a highly contagious, deadly disease like COVID-19 has placed nursing homes at the center of America’s pandemic response. CMS has acted swiftly and decisively to promote infection control and maximize transparency and accountability. We mourn the precious lives lost in nursing homes and commit to refining and perfecting our approach with the help of the Coronavirus Commission on Nursing Home Safety and Quality. The members of the Commission are talented, experienced, and deeply committed to this population,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma.
The commission will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the overall response to the COVID-19 pandemic in nursing homes. Based on its assessment, the commission will make recommendations on actions and best practices for immediate and future actions. Three key areas of focus for the commission include:
· Ensuring nursing home residents are protected from COVID-19 and improving the responsiveness of care delivery to maximize the quality of life for residents;
· Strengthening efforts to enable rapid and effective identification and mitigation of COVID-19 transmission (and other infectious disease) in nursing homes; and
· Enhancing strategies to improve compliance with infection control policies in response to COVID-19.
The 25-member Commission is diverse, representing a variety of expertise, affiliations, backgrounds and geography, including resident advocates, infectious disease experts, directors and administrators of nursing homes, academics, state authorities, clinicians, a medical ethicist and a nursing home resident. In addition to the official commission members, there may also be additional members added to help bring additional viewpoints and insights. MITRE will convene and moderate the commission throughout the summer of 2020. CMS anticipates the commission’s final report in fall of 2020.
