Pennsylvania health officials have admitted to errors in newly-released coronavirus nursing home data.
Spotlight PA found earlier in May that the state had a plan in March to protect nursing homes and “train nursing home staff on infection prevention protocols, provide personal protective equipment, help identify secluded quarantine areas,” but the plan was never fully implemented.
Lawmakers also noted discrepancies in the coronavirus death tolls being reported by facilities and the numbers posted to the state’s website. The Spotlight PA review concluded that the Pennsylvania Department of Health has been quietly altering the data since its release.
“I have heard that there were a small number of errors,” Secretary of Health Rachel Levine said Thursday when confronted. “We’re correcting those.”
The CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, which represents 400 long-term care facilities, said the numbers contained “inaccurate” data.
“Minutes after the data was published, it became clear it contained inconsistent and inaccurate information,” said Zachary Shamberg, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association. “The Department of Health has not provided a plausible explanation for why it will not remove faulty data or alert the public that the posted data is inaccurate.”
Spotlight PA found the department has made numerous changes to data, including at the Jewish Home of eastern Pennsylvania and the Saunders House, outside of Philadelphia. Both of the facilities had shown a total of 52 deaths between the two, but by Thursday, data showed no deaths occurred at either facility.
“The Pennsylvania Health Care Association first notified the department of inaccuracies Tuesday evening, just hours after the list was posted,” Spotlight PA reported. “On a call with the health department Wednesday, the association asked for the data to be taken down, but health officials refused, Shamberg said. The association is now threatening legal action to force the department to remove the information until it can be corrected.”
“We are constantly working to make sure the data we provide is accurate,” Health Department spokesperson Nate Wardle said.
The state added a disclaimer to the data on Friday, noting, “Many facilities offer different levels of care at the same location.”
The text reads, “From the data received by [the state’s electronic disease surveillance system], it is usually not possible to determine which part of the facility the case is associated with. Thus, the case counts in the table may not correctly capture the number of cases within that specific licensed facility.”
