Michigan State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, Salli Pung, is Interviewed on Nursing Homes Without COVID-19

July 20, 2020

Salli Pung, Michigan State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, was interviewed by Bridge and said that the size of a facility, chain or non-profit ownership, previous Medicare ratings and payment sources for care did not distinguish nursing homes with COVID-19 from those without it. In other words, broadly speaking, big facilities with large Medicaid populations, 5-star ratings from Medicare and chain ownership fared roughly the same against the virus as others. So what distinguishes facilities with no COVID-19 cases from the rest of the pack? “In the earliest outbreaks, it appeared that being in highly populated areas, like Southeast Michigan, seemed to be a significant contributing factor for nursing homes’’ hit heavily by the virus, Pung wrote. “We also were informed of concerns by callers of nursing homes which didn’t seem to identify the virus early on and were treating the outbreak like it was the flu. Any delay in (segregating) residents and testing for the virus contributed to the fast spread of COVID-19,’’ she said.

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