What COVID-19 Exposed in Long-Term Care - Documentary

As the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged long-term care and skilled nursing facilities, blame was thrown quickly at the facilities and their operators. But where does the responsibility actually lie for the failure to protect tens of thousands of frail seniors? This 20-minute award-winning documentary explores the causes behind the COVID-19 crisis in long-term care facilities across the United States.

What COVID-19 Exposed in Long-Term Care was awarded a Jury's Choice Award for March's A Show For A Change Film Festival, and was an Official Selection for the 2021 Manhattan Film Festival, the 2021 Marina del Rey Film Festival in Los Angeles, the 2021 Life Fest Film Festival, and the FLICKFAIR Film Festival.

What We Know

The COVID-19 crisis devastated many long-term care (LTC) facilities across the country, regardless of quality and safety records. We saw good management take appropriately aggressive measures and apply best clinical practices, but even the best facilities’ clinical capacity was weakened by forces beyond their control: inadequate resources, a feeble response from our health systems and public health authorities, and years of underfunding. These alarm bells for a catastrophe like this have been ignored for years.

Prior to the pandemic, the majority of LTC providers, especially nonprofit providers, faced a daily challenge to secure the staff and resources necessary to deliver the quality care that is often part of their mission. Skilled nursing homes in PA alone faced deficits totaling over $600 million annually. Funding had been cut and cut until even some of the best providers have been pushed to the precipice of closure. Our society has continued to neglect appropriate funding for frail seniors, and now all our LTC facilities are at risk. We as a nation are responsible for the failure to prepare LTC facilities for the onslaught of COVID-19. Even worse, we did not respond swiftly when it was clear that all LTC facilities faced incredible risk.

It is time to look at long-term solutions to what COVID-19 has exposed: our society has turned its back on our frailest citizens and refused to acknowledge that our LTC facilities overall are weakened by neglect. The whole industry is in trouble. An insidious ageism appears to plague our policymaking, allowing continued disregard of this vulnerable population.

We’re intently focused on this issue and invite you to join us as an ally, to create a better system for our frail seniors. Increased funding, new models of care, and timely reform are long overdue for our system.

We encourage you to join us in advocating for solutions.

Learn More

Supporting Articles:

Karen Wolk Feinstein: What COVID-19 Exposed in Long-Term Care (Health Affairs)

What COVID-19 Exposed In Long-Term Care

Karen Wolk Feinstein: Let’s prioritize medical assistance for vulnerable seniors
Let’s prioritize medical assistance for vulnerable seniors

NASEM study:
The Quality of Care in Nursing Homes: Getting Ahead of the Crises

Commission Final Report:
Commission for Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes

CMS COVID-19 data:
CMS COVID-19 data

Kaiser Family Foundation articles:

The Coverage Gap: Uninsured Poor Adults in States that Do Not Expand Medicaid

COVID-19 and Workers at Risk: Examining the Long-Term Care Workforce

Nursing Facilities, Staffing, Residents and Facility Deficiencies, 2009 Through 2016

Contact Us

You can reach us at info@jhf.org to share your contact information and how you would like to engage with us.