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 The new rules also mandate nursing homes to share test results with
the U.S. government and hospitals to provide data on COVID-19 cases
to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The U.S. government has been pushing to increase the availability of
tests, especially cheap, fast turnaround tests, to make it easier to
identify and quarantine sick patients as the country continues to
reopen its economy.
The U.S. in July purchased 2,000 antigen test systems and 750,000
tests from Becton, Dickinson and Co to be distributed to nursing
homes. Residents of nursing homes die and experience severe
complications from COVID-19 at a higher rate than the general
population.
Antigen tests are low-cost and produce results quickly but can be
less accurate than laboratory tests.
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"It is always better to have rapid turnaround tests that can be done frequently
than infrequent tests that have a slow turnaround,” said Brett Giroir, assistant
secretary for health at HHS, on a call with reporters.
Nursing homes that fail to provide adequate testing to residents will be fined,
CMS said.
In July, the Trump administration released an additional $5 billion from the
Provider Relief Fund to help nursing homes address critical needs, including
hiring additional staff and increasing testing.
(Reporting by Carl O'Donnell in New York and Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing
by Leslie Adler)
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