FHCA Statement in Response to Decision to Identify LTC Facilities with Positive COVID-19 Cases

TALLAHASSEE – Florida Health Care Association Executive Director Emmett Reed recent statement regarding the state's identification of long term care facilities where positive COVID-19 tests have occurred:

"It’s been clear since the beginning that Governor DeSantis shares our goal of protecting our state’s elders in this fight against COVID-19. All of us are working vigilantly to address the massive challenges this pandemic places on our caregivers who continue to remain focused on keeping their residents safe. Since the beginning, we have supported transparency to our residents, families and other stakeholders because we know that knowledge is critical during any state of emergency. Our centers have been following the guidance of the Department of Health and the Agency for Health Care Administration to report a confirmed case, and informing families about developing situations in their centers is a critical step in that process.

We understand the public’s desire for information, and we appreciate the Governor and Surgeon General for listening to our concerns and taking some of our recommendations into consideration to expand how the state reports on long term care facilities impacted by COVID-19,  The Department's updated list provides a better snapshot of the current situation in our state's care centers and factors in the daily update that facilities are providing through the Agency for Health Care Administration's Emergency Status System. Identifying the type of care center - be it a nursing home or assisted living facility - and distinguishing between staff and residents, including those residents who have been transferred out of the facility - provides families with a clearer understanding of the current situation in these care centers.

It's also important to note how our frontline caregivers have kept the virus contained to just 1 percent of our more than 155,000 residents and nearly 200,000 employees in our state’s 3,800 nursing homes and assisted living facilities. That’s a testament to their heroic work to provide the highest levels of care possible in this most difficult of times.

As our State continues targeting resources and support to our centers, from infection control guidance to Personal Protective Equipment to expanding testing, FHCA will continue supporting our long term care facilities and the heroic caregivers on the front line of protecting our state’s most vulnerable residents."

For more information and a coronavirus web page specific to long term care providers, visit FHCA.org.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2020

PRESS CONTACT
Kristen Knapp, APR
850-701-3530 or kknapp@fhca.org