Latest CANHR Alerts

Visitation, No Excuses – CMS Restores Full Visitation Access in Nursing Homes!

CANHR STAFF

Citing high COVID-19 vaccination rates for residents and staff and proclaiming that “continued restrictions on this vital resident’s right [visitation] are no longer necessary,” the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has restored the right of residents to visitors of their choosing whenever they want. The new CMS guidance prohibits facilities from:

– limiting the frequency of a residents’ visits,
– limiting the duration of a residents’ visits,
– limiting the number of a residents’ visitors,
– confining visits to particular hours of the day, or
– requiring advance scheduling of visits.Additionally, the guidance clarifies that visitors must be allowed during any COVID-19 outbreak or outbreak investigation.

While the guidance maintains recommendations regarding infection prevention during visitation, the bottom line is each “resident must be allowed to receive visitors as he/she chooses.”

Vaccination Rates for Nursing Home Staff and Residents Now Available on Care Compare

CANHR STAFF

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in a September 21, 2021 press release that it has added a new feature to its Care Compare website to make it easier to check COVID-19 vaccination rates for nursing home staff and residents. The information is intended to help people make informed decisions when choosing a nursing home. To access the vaccination rate data, search a nursing home’s zip code or city on Care Compare, click on the name of the nursing home, then scroll down to click “View COVID-19 Vaccination Rates” to see the data. The information is intended to help people make informed decisions when choosing a nursing home.

CMS is updating the data weekly. Medicare and Medi-Cal certified nursing homes have been required to report weekly COVID-19 vaccination data for both residents and staff since May, and CMS has been posting the information on the CMS COVID-19 Nursing Home Data website. The new vaccination rate tool on Care Compare is in addition to the data being posted on the COVID-19 Nursing Home Data website.

Long Term Care Facility Visitation Lockouts Due to COVID Outbreaks – Are They Legal?

CANHR STAFF

Despite the ongoing pandemic, in-person visitation is mandatory in California long term care facilities.  However, a number of facilities are shutting down all in-person visitation indefinitely when a staff member or resident tests positive for COVID-19.  Generally, these visitation lockouts are illegal.

The only time a facility may temporarily shut down in-person visitation is when a local public health authority has directed that visitation be stopped or in nursing homes under very specific circumstances outlined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The current visitation rules in nursing homes and assisted living facilities are summarized here.These rules apply, regardless of COVID outbreaks in a facility.

If you or your loved one’s facility is locking out visitors due to an outbreak, or for any other reason, ask the facility management what rules they are following that permit the lockout and provide the facility with CANHR’s visitation summary.  If the facility persists in an unauthorized lockout, file a complaint with the state Department of Public Health and explain that the visitation lockout is an “immediate jeopardy” violation.  If CDPH is not able to restore visitation at the facility within 72 hours of your complaint, contact CANHR and let us know.

CANHR Zoom Town Halls

Ho, Ho, No: Visitation in Long Term Care Facilities During the Holidays

CANHR STAFF

On November 29th CANHR held a Town Hall for California residents of long term care facilities, their families, and their friends, to discuss the state of resident visitation rights for the holidays.   

Many of you attended and participated – thank you! If you were unable to attend, not to worry, you can now watch the recording via the link above, or by visiting our website (it is currently posted on the front page). We hope this town hall provides some useful information that helps you in the difficult task of navigating the maze of (re)gaining visitation access in California’s nursing homes. 

Contacts to email your concerns to at the California Department of Health:

Cassie Dunham (Acting Deputy Director) Cassie.Dunham@cdph.ca.gov

Chelsea Driscoll (Chief of the Public Policy and Prevention Division) Chelsea.Driscoll@cdph.ca.gov

To file a complaint online regarding a Nursing Home visitation issue: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CHCQ/LCP/CalHealthFind/Pages/Complaint.aspx

For information on filing a complaint regarding an RCFE visitation issue: http://canhr.org/factsheets/rcfe_fs/html/rcfe_fs.complaints.htm

Please read CANHR’s fact sheet on Filing a Complaint (Nursing Home) available through this link: http://canhr.org/factsheets/nh_fs/PDFs/FS_NH_Complaint.pdf

For more information on Residents’ Rights, visit CANHR’s website: http://canhr.org/factsheets/index.html

You can read the relevant AFL’s (All Facilities Letters) and other government guidance on this website.

If you have further questions please email them to Tony Chicotel at tony@canhr.org.

Latest Media News Item

Grieving relatives sue facilities over COVID-19 deaths. Nursing homes say they’re immune

CANHR STAFF

By Emily Alpert Reyes, Los Angeles Times, November 5 2021 Helena Apothaker holds a photograph of her and her mother, Catherine, in West Hollywood. Apothaker is suing Silverado Senior Living after her Catherine died of COVID-19 at a care facility near the Fairfax District. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Helena Apothaker was raw with grief for her mother, who had died of COVID-19 as the virus swept through a care facility in Beverly Grove, when she heard the news that infuriated her: The facility had admitted a new resident amid the pandemic.

Read More