Thread by @NYHammond

This new study finds that higher nursing-home staffing levels were linked to *worse* outcomes during the pandemic.

Facilities in the top staffing quartile had 92% higher infection rates and 133% higher mortality rates than those in the bottom quartile. healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hl…

These results are being published two months after the state Legislature passed a minimum staffing law that will force most NY nursing homes to hire more people.

More staff might be good in other ways, but it appears to increase the risk of spreading infectious diseases.

In March, @iskingsb and I found no clear correlation between staffing levels and COVID-19 mortality, and argued that boosting staff would not be an effective response to the pandemic.

These new results suggest that that staffing ratios might actually backfire.

The study's authors say: "Our findings do not imply that nursing homes should have lower staffing ratios per resident."

But they add, "Nursing homes that can provide those staff hours with fewer unique staff members will be better able to protect their residents from COVID-19."

That's an argument for using fewer part-time employees, and fewer temporary employees and outside contractors who float from facility to facility.

The new state law did not address this issue. It might lead some homes to use more temporary staff -- to avoid falling short of required staffing ratios when a permanent employee calls in sick, for example.

Here is a link to the @empirecenter's analysis from March, which relied on data obtained in February through our FOIL lawsuit against the Cuomo administration. empirecenter.org/publications/i…