A September 17, 2020 CMS Memorandum has partially lifted restrictions to Nursing Home indoor visitation.
Federally Funded Nursing homes with Indoor Visitation Facilities should accommodate and support indoor visitation, including visits for reasons beyond compassionate care situations, based on the following guidelines:
a) There has been no new onset of COVID-19 cases in the last 14 days and the facility is not currently conducting outbreak testing;
b) Visitors should be able to adhere to the core principles and staff should provide monitoring for those who may have difficulty adhering to core principles, such as children;
c) Facilities should limit the number of visitors per resident at one time and limit the total number of visitors in the facility at one time (based on the size of the building and physical space). Facilities should consider scheduling visits for a specified length of time to help ensure all residents are able to receive visitors; and
d) Facilities should limit movement in the facility. For example, visitors should not walk around different halls of the facility. Rather, they should go directly to the resident’s room or designated visitation area.
Visits for residents who share a room should not be conducted in the resident’s room. NOTE: For situations where there is a roommate and the health status of the resident prevents leaving the room, facilities should attempt to enable in-room visitation while adhering to the core principles of COVID-19 infection prevention.