Massachusetts nursing home staff to face flu-shot requirement

Oct. 6--Gov. Charlie Baker's administration will require nursing home staff members to get the flu vaccine by the end of the year, an order that comes as the coronavirus pandemic has devastated long-term care facilities across Massachusetts.

The flu shot mandate also comes in the wake of the state Department of Public Health requiring Bay State students to get the flu vaccine by the end of 2020.

"To protect long-term care residents and other vulnerable populations from a potentially deadly flu season, and preserve health care resources needed to respond to the COVID-19 emergency throughout the fall and winter, the Department of Public Health (DPH) has revised the flu vaccination requirements for staff at nursing homes, rest homes, ALRs, adult day health programs, and out-of-hospital dialysis units," the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

"The DPH order eliminates the option for staff to opt-out of getting a flu vaccine, with exemptions only for medical or religious reasons," the state added.

Of the state's 9,530 total coronavirus deaths, 6,147 are connected to long-term care facilities.

More than 25,000 residents and health care workers at long-term care facilities have contracted the virus.

The Baker administration on Tuesday said the Executive Office of Health and Human Services is implementing the first phase of several reforms announced as part of the Accountability and Supports Package 2.0.

This package of reforms holds long-term care facilities to "higher standards of care and infection control, provides up to $140 million in additional funding to nursing homes, and restructures Medicaid rates to be consistent with the recommendations of the Nursing Facility Taskforce," the state said.

This first phase of reforms includes:

* Requiring nursing homes to reduce or eliminate rooms with more than two residents to improve infection control.

* $82 million in restructured Medicaid rates, which incentivizes high-quality, high-occupancy and care for high-acuity special populations, including residents with substance use disorder and/or several mental health diagnoses.

* Mandating nursing homes have isolation spaces for COVID-19 positive residents who are getting discharged from hospitals, limiting isolation spaces to facilities that have a high DPH quality score, meeting specific staffing and PPE requirements, and having no deficiencies on DPH infection control surveys.

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