COVID-19 Reporting Response

FACTS:

While even one death in our facilities is one too many, the facts show that the performance of Trilogy facilities was in line with that of our peers in the communities we serve, and in some cases, rates in our facilities were lower than the average. USA Today unfortunately relied on inaccurate and incomplete data, leading to baseless conclusions in its reporting. The correct information has now been resubmitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network, though USA Today still chose to base its story on inaccurate information while knowing incorrect data was being updated. We have always put the health and safety of our residents above all other considerations, and while the pandemic has been a historic challenge for long term care providers across the country, we are proud and grateful for our caregivers and their tireless work to keep our residents safe.

FACTS:

Our frontline caregivers are healthcare heroes who should be applauded for their tireless work throughout the pandemic. But the entire health care sector is facing a historic staffing crisis, and the long term care industry has been the hardest hit. Nursing home providers are finding it harder to recruit and retain staff every day because we are unable to offer the same competitive pay and benefits as other health care facilities, such as hospitals, largely in part due to years of chronic underfunding by government payment programs, namely Medicaid. While all long term care facilities are facing workforce challenges, Trilogy facilities do not have lower staffing rates compared to the average nursing home. USA Today once again has chosen to rely on inaccurate data that does not align with our internal staffing level data.

FACTS:

Our facilities, like every other nursing home in the country, are facing an unprecedented labor shortage and it has been extremely difficult to recruit and retain a robust workforce. However, we have not cut staff or been asked to do so in order to save costs. In fact, we have invested $8 million in direct wage increases for our workforce. We have always been committed to investing in our workforce because we know our staff is the backbone of all of our facilities and deserve to be supported and recognized for the heroic work they do every day.

FACTS:

AHR and Trilogy have worked hand in hand throughout the pandemic to ensure our residents have the highest possible level of care. We are grateful for AHR’s partnership because they share the same mission we do – to provide our residents with the highest quality level of care possible. Any suggestion by USA Today that anyone pushed our facilities to cut costs in a way that undermined care is baseless and inaccurate. Whether investing in our staff or strengthening our infection control practices, AHR has backed our providers, residents and staff.

FACTS:

We have been working daily to help minimize the spread of COVID and prevent tragedies from occurring. From the start of the pandemic, Trilogy chose to be transparent in our reporting to our families and the public, in an effort to do everything in our power to protect our residents and staff as best as we could in a once in a century pandemic.

Our work included strengthening our infection control practices, including recently equipping 110 nursing home facilities with Arc – R-Zero’s hospital-grade UV-C Disinfection System, which provides a critical layer of added safety for our residents, employees and families by offering the highest level of infection prevention possible. We also developed a cleanliness initiative, the Trilogy SHIELD Program (Sanitation, Health Solutions, Illness-Prevention, Evidence-Based Lasting Technologies and Disinfection Tools), to protect our residents and staff. We are always looking for ways to bolster our infection control practices and provide our residents with even higher quality care. Our residents are like family and any suggestion that we substituted high quality care to maximize profits is entirely and verifiably inaccurate.

FACTS:

The best way to judge a nursing home is a combination of in-person visits, testimonials from existing or prior residents and their families, and the use of established resources, such as the Five-Star Quality Rating System administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. USA Today’s ratings are a solution in search of a problem. Unfortunately, their ratings are based on inaccurate and incomplete information, baseless conclusions and a basic lack of understanding of long term care. USA Today was informed Trilogy was uploading new data to correct errors in prior reporting, but chose to base its ratings on faulty information.

FACTS:

Over months of email correspondence and phone conversations, AHR and Trilogy, along with other experts in the long term care industry, worked to correct countless inaccuracies in USA Today’s reporting. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that USA Today was more interested in advancing a predetermined narrative than reporting the facts. This does a disservice not only to the healthcare heroes who have gone above and beyond to keep residents safe in the face of a historic threat, it unfairly maligns an entire sector within our healthcare system that tens of thousands of America’s seniors rely on.

FACTS:

Long term care residents and their caregivers develop relationships over years resulting in many becoming akin to family with each other. But every loss is very hard. Unfortunately, this virus was accurately labeled a “perfect killing machine” for long term care residents in the earliest days of the pandemic. So, while long term care staff did everything possible to protect their residents, resources such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing were slow in arriving to long term care facilities as has been widely reported. Fortunately, federal and state governments have worked together to provide life-saving vaccines have helped save resident lives and reunited families.