After visitation in nursing homes was shut down for non-emergency reasons at the onset of the pandemic, some states have taken action to ensure both post-acute and acute care settings allow in-person visits in future – even during a pandemic.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a new bill into law this week to codify visitation rights for nursing home and hospital patients. Under the new law, SNF residents can designate an “essential caregiver,” and this person would be ensured visitation rights.
SB113, which passed the Alabama Senate unanimously prior to coming to the Governor’s desk, also prohibits providers from requiring visitors to show proof of vaccination.
These new standards would allow the essential caregiver to visit at least two hours a day, along with any other visitation allowed by the facility. A different essential caregiver could be picked for each day, according to the law, and if a patient is incapacitated and can’t appoint the essential caregiver, a family member can make the decision instead.
Visitation must be allowed under specific circumstances too, according to the law.
The following were given as examples of such circumstances: end-of-life situations; patients living with family prior to being admitted and are struggling to adapt to a lack of in-person family support; patients making one or more major medical decisions.
More circumstances allowing visitations include those experiencing emotional distress or grieving the loss of a friend or family member and patients who need extra support with eating and drinking – support previously given by a family member. And that’s not all, visitations can also proceed for patients who are socially are withdrawn and those that have recently gone through childbirth as well as pediatric patients.
Other state Departments of Health have imposed and relaxed visitation policies based on pandemic surges, with Rhode Island, California and New York last year requiring visitors at nursing homes and assisted living facilities to be vaccinated or provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test to enter.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in November 2021 issued guidance allowing visitation for “all residents at all times,” but with clarifications once aging services organizations expressed concern over expected surges at the time tied to the omicron variant.
These clarifications restricted visitations in “very limited” and “rare” instances.