Kaiser Health News (KHN) has published an article on suicides connected to long term care (LTC) settings. While data shows that suicides are rare in LTC settings, the story claims that suicides associated with LTC are under-acknowledged and has the potential to increase as baby boomers age. The report references a study of Virginia data.

The article includes the following:

Briana Mezuk, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, found in 2015 that the rate of suicide in older adults in nursing homes in Virginia was nearly the same as the rate in the general population, despite the greater supervision the facilities provide.

It is important to note that despite the reporting, not all the cases cited are attributable to occurring in LTC or resident care settings and fewer occurred in nursing homes. This research combined people in nursing homes with people who were living at home and considering or planning a transition to LTC. Additionally, it was not clear what researchers classified as a nursing home.

AHCA/NCAL has prepared as statement to help you respond to any questions on this serious issue (tailor as needed):

Suicide is a tragic event, and we offer our deepest sympathy to families who have experienced such a tragedy. However, the research does not show any significant connection between people actually living in long term care settings and suicides in the elderly. The data shows there are 26 or .001% suicides out of the millions of elders admitted to long term care per year. This low rate is due in part to CMS regulations that require all nursing centers to assess each resident at admission for depression and develop a care plan to address any depressive symptoms. This is a key reason the suicide rate is much lower in long term care settings than in the community.

Mental health and suicide among the elderly is an important issue. This article correctly identifies a problem: our country needs to address mental health and suicide among the elderly.

Read the article: Lethal Plans: When Seniors Turn to Suicide (khn.org, April 9, 2019).

KHN is also collaborating with PBS NewsHour for an on-air companion piece.

McKnight’s Long Term Care News also covered providers’ response to the KHN piece: Providers rebut conclusions drawn in long term care suicide article (mcknights.com, April 11, 2019)

We will continue to monitor this story and related developments. If you have any questions or would like additional talking points, contact Amy Hewett