House Coronavirus Subcommittee Launches Probe Into Nursing Home Companies, CMS Pandemic Response
- June 17, 2020
Bloomberg Law (6/16, Ruoff, Subscription Publication) reports, “A House special oversight panel Tuesday launched a wide-ranging probe into the Trump administration’s oversight of nursing homes during the spread of the coronavirus.” House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis chairman Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) “sent letters to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as well as the country’s five largest for-profit nursing home companies seeking documents and information including [COVID-19] case and death counts, staffing levels and pay, legal violations, and efforts to prevent further infections.” Moreover, the letters “seek information on how the Trump administration has distributed federal emergency funds targeted to health-care providers.”
Politico (6/16, Cheney, Roubein) reports the subcommittee “is probing a wide range of issues, from the scale of the outbreak in the facilities to potential shortages of protective equipment for patients and staff.” While “Clyburn’s letters will raise questions about whether the companies acted responsibly, he issued his most pointed questions for CMS Administrator Seema Verma, criticizing her agency’s response to the outbreak.”
The Hill (6/16, Johnson) also reports on the story.