CMS Lifts Ban On Nursing Home Visitors
- September 18, 2020
NPR (9/17, Jaffe) reports, “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which regulate nursing facilities, are lifting the ban on visitors, effective immediately. CMS imposed the restriction in March in an effort to control outbreaks of the coronavirus.” All nursing homes now “can allow outdoor visits with social distancing. And most nursing homes can allow indoor visits as long as there have been no new COVID-19 infections in the past 2 weeks and the infection rate in the surrounding county is no more than 10%.”
Modern Healthcare (9/17, Christ, Subscription Publication) reports, “The new guidance recommends nursing homes plan outdoor visits as much as possible because the risk for transmission is lower in open air settings.” In addition, “the agency also will allow facilities to apply for up to $3,000 in civil monetary funds to purchase tents or clear dividers for outdoor visitation.”