On March 10, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) released updated guidance for nursing home visitation.
The updated guidance recommends expanding indoor visitation in nursing homes overall, while adhering to the core principles of COVID-19 infection control, including maintaining physical distancing and conducting visits outdoors whenever possible. The updated guidance also:
- Emphasizes that compassionate care visits and visits required under federal disability rights law should be allowed at all times, for any resident;
- Clarifies that testing/vaccination should not be required as a condition of visitation - this applies to representatives of the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman and protection and advocacy systems; and
- Notes that questions about or issues related to enforcement or oversight of the non-CMS requirements and citations referenced in the section about federal disability rights laws and protection and advocacy programs should be referred to the HHS Office for Civil Rights, the Administration for Community Living, or other appropriate oversight agency.
ACL will continue to advocate for the needs of people with disabilities and older adults, and we’ll continue to share information from federal partners and our grantees, as well as resources we think may be useful to the aging and disability networks, and the people we all serve. Watch ACL.gov/COVID-19 for the latest information and be sure to sign up for ACL Updates.