Letter to the Hon. Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Probe into Missing Nursing Home COVID Death Data Focuses on NY, PA, Other States

Letter

Dear Secretary Becerra:
We write to follow up on the briefing you provided to Ways and Means Committee staff on
March 11, 2021. The briefing was very helpful and informative, and we are grateful that the
Department made staff available. As you likely know, we continue to be concerned about policy
decisions in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic regarding nursing homes and about
whether certain states, including New York and Pennsylvania among others, may have
intentionally misled the public and perhaps the federal government regarding COVID-19 related
deaths in those facilities.
During the March 11 briefing, we learned that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) used the National Health Safety Network (NHSN) to gather COVID-19 related nursing
home data directly from nursing homes across the country. As part of that data collection effort,
which began in May 2020, the CDC provided monthly reports to state governments summarizing
the data reported directly by nursing homes. Our inquiry into this matter is largely a statefocused issue, but we have one modest request that would assist us in better understanding these
issues.
We ask that your Department provide us with all NHSN summary reports that were provided to
the following states:
1. New York
2. Pennsylvania
3. Michigan
4. New Jersey
5. California
We have intentionally kept our request narrowly focused so as not to create any unnecessary
burden on the agency. During the last Congress and during the Trump Administration, the
Department of Health and Human Services consistently produced documents responsive to the
requests of the Ways and Means Committee. We hope that this practice will continue at the
Department under your leadership.
If possible, we would appreciate receiving these documents by April 6, 2021. And if you would
like to discuss this request, please contact Rachel Kaldahl (Rachel.Kaldahl@mail.house.gov) or
Sean Clerget (Sean.Clerget@mail.house.gov) on the Ways and Means Committee Republican
Oversight staff.
Sincerely,
_______________