Ed McBloom headshot
Michigan Sen. Ed McBloom

Michigan legislators voted Thursday to subpoena nursing home records from the state health department, according to the Detroit News.

The department has two weeks to comply with the release of at least some of the records. Emily Schwarzkopf, director of legislative, appropriations and constituent services at the health department, said the department intends to comply.

State Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan), chair of the Michigan Senate Oversight Committee, said the committee is looking for communication regarding policies for nursing homes and other long-term care facilities during the coronavirus pandemic. He added that he is interested in what direction the health department gave to the long-term facilities and how well the orders were carried out.

“It is very easy to know what they wrote in the orders,” McBroom said, according to the media report. “The question is, as those orders were implemented, what was the feedback to the department and what were the department’s internal discussions?”

GOP lawmakers, who control the state legislature, have been at odds with the state’s Democratic governor about her handling of the pandemic. Approximately 5,700 COVID-19 deaths in Michigan have been either residents or staff members of long-term care facilities.

The legislature wanted entirely separate facilities to care for those with COVID-19 to stem its spread among long-term care residents. Instead, the health department created 21 regional hubs for care for people released from hospitals or from other facilities that couldn’t properly handle them.