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Following calls from advocates, the state Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a bill that would increase the number of direct-care hours for nursing home residents, would require nursing homes to maintain at least a two-month supply of personal protective equipment and would mandate that every nursing home employ a full-time infection prevention specialist. Recommendations for those reforms were made by a special task force established last fall to study the dire conditions in Connecticut’s nursing facilities and propose legislative fixes. (Carlesso, 5/27)

KHN: In California, Nursing Home Owners Can Operate After They’re Denied A License

The pandemic has highlighted poor care in America’s nursing homes, where nearly 175,000 people have died of covid-19 — a third of all deaths from the disease nationwide. Even before the pandemic, patient advocates pointed to dangerous conditions in U.S. nursing homes, including staffing shortages and infection control failures. Many nursing homes didn’t provide quality care, they charged. (Mendelson and Yu, 5/28)

KHN: Caring For An Aging Nation

Health care for the nation’s seniors looms large as the baby-boom generation ages into retirement. President Joe Biden tacitly acknowledged those needs in March with his proposal to spend $400 billion over the next eight years to improve access to in-home and community-based care. The swelling population of seniors will far outpace growth in other age groups. That acceleration — and the slower growth in other age groups — could leave many older Americans with less family to rely on for help in their later years. Meanwhile, federal officials estimate that more than half of people turning 65 will need long-term care services at some point. That care is expensive and can be hard to find. (Zuraw and Heredia Rodriguez, 5/28)