Member News
Check out what ASHA’s doing for the seniors housing industry by clicking on the links below. For additional information related to government affairs or advocacy, please contact Jeanne McGlynn Delgado at [email protected] and Sheff Richey at [email protected]. Questions about the Associations meetings and sponsorship can be directed to Doris Maultsby at [email protected]. For all other inquiries reach out to David Schless, ASHA president & CEO at [email protected].
January 20, 2021
President-elect Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue plan, unveiled January 14, includes an initiative to “protect vulnerable populations in congregate settings,” but it may not go far enough to meet the needs of senior living and care, according to some industry leaders. Still, however, they expressed appreciation that the incoming administration is taking COVID-19 seriously. American Seniors Housing Association President David Schless, who last week sent a letter to Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris highlighting vaccine prioritization and targeted senior living COVID-19 relief, applauded Biden’s goal to accelerate the vaccine rollout, but he expressed concern that any deviation from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention priority vaccination recommendations. “ASHA continues to raise the issue of independent living residents and staff being overlooked in some states and localities and [is] urging policymakers to include these communities in the [Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Program] to achieve the greatest efficiency in distribution and safety of residents,” Schless said. Expanding access to younger age groups, as Operation Warp Speed officials announced last week, is “ill-advised” and would force independent living residents to compete with others in a “tedious and confusing” process, he added. “Clinics must come to these seniors where they live. This is why the LTC pharmacy program or other similar programs must include independent living settings,” Schless said. Click here for the full article.January 13, 2021
In a move that should open COVID-19 vaccination to independent living and affordable senior housing residents across the country, officials with the federal vaccine development, manufacturing and distribution program on January 12 announced an expansion of the program to enable anyone aged 65 or more years to be vaccinated. But affordable senior housing residents and independent living residents were not considered among the priority groups in phase 1a of the vaccine rollout, even if they lived in continuing care retirement communities where other residents were considered a priority. That led groups such as the American Seniors Housing Association to write to state governors to advocate on their behalf. Read more.January 8, 2021
Governors should urge the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to include independent living residents in the top priority group for COVID-19 vaccinations and should adjust their state COVID-19 vaccine plans, if necessary, to include them, the American Seniors Housing Association said Jan. 7 in a letter to all 50 state leaders. Independent living residents’ omission as a top priority in the federal government’s Pharmacy Partnership Program for Long-Term Care is a “serious oversight,” ASHA President David Schless said. Click here for full article.January 8, 2021
“ASHA is encouraged that Biden’s first priority is to address the COVID-19 pandemic,” ASHA President David Schless said, predicting, “He will seek a large COVID-19 relief package, address timely vaccine distribution and enhance testing capabilities. These are areas of common need, and we look forward to working with the administration and the new Congress to secure key wins for the industry.” Click here for full story.January 5, 2021
American Seniors Housing Association President David Schless anticipated a “chaotic and uneven” vaccination process for staff members and residents. “ASHA has been very focused on working with both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and with the state governors to ensure that all senior living staff and residents receive the vaccine as it becomes available on a prioritized basis — including independent living,” he said. Read full story here.December 23, 2020
A $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill is on its way to the president’s desk after being passed by both houses of Congress by late Monday. Trade associations representing senior living operators, however, say they are disappointed in its provisions. The measure adds $3 billion to the Provider Relief Fund, to be distributed by the Department of Health and Human Services. American Seniors Housing Association President David Schless said “there is much to disappoint” related to the bill and senior living. “In addition to the package not including the liability protection the industry desperately needs, the Provider Relief Fund (PRF) grew by only $3 billion, a shocking decline from earlier reports of an additional $35 billion,” he said. Schless also called for additional funding, noting that the $24.5 billion in Phase 3 funds currently being disbursed to providers by HHS is intended to apply to lost revenue and increased expenses from the first and second quarters. “With the third and fourth quarters expecting to reflect significant financial stress in the industry, significantly more relief is needed,” he said. “The Provider Relief Fund is one of the few sources of financial relief available to the industry, and to not replenish these badly needed funds is seriously flawed and fails to recognize the significant work of the senior living industry to keep seniors and staff safe during the past 11 months.” Schless said he was pleased, however, that the COVID relief bill directs PRF recipients to calculate lost revenues using the Frequently Asked Questions guidance released by HHS in June. “This preferred guidance allows the use of budgeted revenue for comparison to actual as long as the budget had been established and approved prior to March 27, 2020,” he said. And long-term care providers can be pleased that the bill permanently extends the 7.5% adjusted gross income threshold for medical expense deductibility, Schless said. “This is an issue that ASHA has championed for several years,” he said. “It was at risk of increasing to 10%, which would essentially be a tax increase for seniors who can use this deduction to help defray the costs of senior living and long-term care insurance premiums among other eligible expenses.” Full story.December 17, 2020
ASHA President David Schless said, the “full-court press advocacy efforts” in pursuit of funding is finally showing positive results. “These funds could not have come at a better time, as the virus continues to surge and our operators must redouble their efforts to protect their residents and staff,” Schless said. “The vaccine making its way to our communities in the next few months is encouraging, but the industry’s financial needs will continue to grow.” Full story.
December 17, 2020
HHS received approximately 75,000 Phase 3 applicants; the percentage of those applicants that are assisted living providers is unknown, ASHA President David Schless told Senior Housing News.
“We have asked on several occasions. Our understanding is that the 88% will be derived directly from each providers Phase 3 application (through the end of the second quarter 2020),” Schless said. Full story.
December 16, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerable health status of older adults, but it also revealed the “vital role” that senior living communities play in the larger care continuum, according to a Plante Moran research report. The investigation, done in partnership with the American Seniors Housing Association, states that once the senior living industry emerges from the pandemic, assisted living providers will have a choice: go back to the status quo, which will see growing competition, increasing costs and lower occupancy, or embrace an expanded role in the healthcare delivery system. Click here for full story.December 10, 2020
The framework for a bipartisan $908 billion COVID-19 relief package, released Dec. 9, includes measures directed at addressing the struggles of assisted living and other long-term care operators.
ASHA President David Schless echoed that the senior living industry needs help now, adding that ASHA also is calling for temporary and limited liability protections for the industry “given the likelihood of legal challenges ahead that will create additional, unnecessary and unfair financial strain on this industry.” Read more.