In a new research letter published in JAMA Network Open, Dr. Arian Jung, assistant professor of population health sciences, and colleagues examined nursing homes in communities with the highest COVID-19 prevalence. Their goal was to identify characteristics associated with resident infection rates. With a cross-sectional analysis of 3,008 nursing homes with 255,923 occupied beds, the researchers found that in nursing homes with more COVID-19 cases, residents were older, had higher activities of daily living score and there was a lower proportion of white residents. Also, nursing homes with more cases had lower occupancy rates, fewer direct care hours per patient per day, were more likely to have an advanced practitioner and had a higher proportion of residents insured by Medicaid. The researchers note that interventions such increased staff support and directing more resources to nursing homes with disproportionate shares of racial minorities and Medicaid participants could reduce disparities in COVID-19 morbidity among these residents.
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