New guidance has been released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), designed to help nursing home facilities allow patients to safely see their loved ones in person during the COVID-19 pandemic.
C-TAC called for new federal guidance on visitation across health care settings in a letter to the Biden Administration on Feb. 15. C-TAC Co-Chair Tom Koutsoumpas echoed this call in an Op-ed published by Modern Healthcare on Feb. 23. We’re thrilled that CMS has responded by taking steps to offer nursing homes the guidance they need to connect patients and families during the pandemic.
According to the new guidance, nursing homes should allow responsible indoor visitation at all times and for all residents, regardless of vaccination status of the resident, or visitor, unless certain scenarios arise that would limit visitation for:
- Unvaccinated residents, if the COVID-19 county positivity rate is greater than 10 percent and less than 70 percent of residents in the facility are fully vaccinated
- Residents with confirmed COVID-19 infection, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, until they have met the criteria to discontinue transmission-based precautions
- Residents in quarantine, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, until they have met criteria for release from quarantine.
The revised guidance also indicates that “compassionate care” visits should be allowed at all times, regardless of a resident’s vaccination status. This includes visits for a resident whose health has sharply declined or is experiencing a significant change in circumstances.
“So many people with serious illness have been separated from their loved ones during this pandemic, a time when they are needed most,” says C-TAC Executive Director Jon Broyles. “C-TAC is glad that the Biden Administration has released new guidance that reflects the changing landscape of this crisis, and we hope more kinds of facilities will be covered by future guidelines.”
Previously, the most recent CMS guidance on in-person visitation in nursing homes was released in September. Since then, the rollout of vaccines and the spread of COVID-19 variants has drastically affected the way health care facilities across the country are approaching in-person visitation. We hope that the new guidance can help facilities allow patients to see their families while protecting our frontline workers.
To learn more about the new guidance, read this fact sheet or the full guidance on the CMS website. We look forward to continuing to work with the Biden Administration to serve people with serious illness and their families during the pandemic and beyond.
