Mass Senior Care is strongly urging all nursing facilities to immediately limit visitation in your facility to essential visits only. We strongly recommend that you review your Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) as well as surge plans for your facility. This virus is dangerous to our residents and to prevent it from entering our facilities all people who are not needed to meet residents’ needs or keep operations going should be asked to not enter.

This afternoon, the the Department of Public Health released updated COVID-19 related guidance for long-term care facilities in the Commonwealth. We urge each member to review this important guidance and immediately begin restricting visitors in communities with “COVID-19 community spread” and limiting visitors to essential visits only, if your “facility is in a county or is adjacent to other counties where a COVID-19 case has occurred.” The Department’s guidance aligns with CMS’ March 9th recommendation that was released earlier this week and is already being implemented by many member facilities.

Due to the growing concerns presented by COVID-19 (the coronavirus) and out of an abundance of caution for nursing facility staff, Mass Senior Care Association is postponing educational programs scheduled in March 2020. We are attempting to reschedule for a later date and will keep all registrants updated once we have a new date. The following programs will be postponed: PDPM SIX MONTHS LATER: THE MASSACHUSETTS EXPERIENCE (March 12, 2020) MDS 3.0 3-Day Competency Program (March 16-18, 2020) Strategies for

Mass Senior Care has a dedicated page on our website to share important memos and resources with all members about coronavirus, officially named COVID-19. Updated guidance from Massachusetts Department of Public Health and CMS are also available on the page. As concerns arise with COVID-19, Mass Senior Care members should visit the website daily for the latest information.

State budget deliberations are intensifying, and Mass Senior Care is encouraging members to contact their State Representatives and State Senators to urge them to make nursing facility care a top priority in FY 2021. Lawmakers are currently meeting with House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz and Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues to discuss and submit their FY 2021 budget priorities.

Mass Senior Care is encouraging nursing facility staff, residents, family members and vendors to join us for State House Visibility Day on Tuesday, March 24th at 11:00am which will coincide with the Joint Committee on Way and Means Budget hearing at Gardner Auditorium in the Massachusetts State House.

The Department of Public Health is communicating guidance through their dedicated COVID-19 website as well as the DPH Nursing Home Listserv and the Health and Homeland Alert Network (HHAN).