Deaths Among US Aid Recipients In Nursing Homes Soared Amid Pandemic - Health Agency

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd June, 2021) Deaths among US Medicare patients in nursing homes soared by more than 30 percent during the pandemic, the Health and Human Services Department Inspector General's office said in a report on Tuesday.

"Among all Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes, 22.5 percent died in 2020, which is an increase of one-third from 2019," the report said. "This 32-percent increase amounts to 169,291 more deaths in 2020 than if the mortality rate had remained the same as in 2019."

Each month of 2020, the report added, had a higher mortality rate than the same month in the prior year.

Overall, according to the report, 2 in 5 Medicare patients in nursing homes had or likely had COVID-19 in 2020, the report said, including around half of Black, Hispanic and Asian beneficiaries.

The inspector general report also said the pandemic's toll on these patients demonstrates the need for increased action to mitigate the effects of the ongoing pandemic and to avert such tragedies from occurring in the future.

The data compiled in the report, the IG said, could play a critical role in understanding health disparities within the nursing home population and dealing with future public health crises.