Visiting your loved ones in a nursing home was not allowed during the height of the Covid pandemic. This is about to change. On July 10, 2020, the NYS Department of Health issued guidance to the administrators of nursing homes and adult care facilities for the purpose of allowing outdoor visitation and limited indoor visitation. In order to be eligible, the facility must be located in a region that is currently in PHASE 3, with additional restrictions applied. Nursing homes are subject to more extensive limitations on visitation than adult care facilities.
The extra restrictions for nursing home visitation require the facility to have protocols in place for separating residents into categories of positive, negative, and unknown for COVID-19 infection; to have a safety plan on file with the Department of Health; and that there cannot be active or any new onset of COVID-19 cases of staff or residents for at least 28 days within the facility.
Once these and other conditions are met, visitation must occur outdoors unless additional restrictions are met for indoor visitation. While this is great news for families who have eagerly awaited a personal visit with their loved ones, it is important to note that the Department of Health can rescind these rules at any time if the infection spreads or if the facility fails to follow the requirements.
For more information, please see the NYS Department of Health advisory:
https://www.health.ny.gov/press/releases/2020/2020-07-10_resumption_of_limited_nh_visitation.htm
Our office recently held a webinar where we discussed the upcoming more restrictive home care Medicaid eligibility rules. The webinar can be viewed here:
