LeadingAge National has gathered Essential Caregiver Programs from states, looked at the guidance and evaluated the programs on how they square up with CMS guidance.  Here is an excerpt from the report:

As the pandemic reaches its one-year mark, nursing home residents continue to face the significant challenges of prolonged isolation. With limited and circumscribed exceptions, most have not been able to receive loved ones or other visitors. Essential caregiver programs are widely looked to as a solution. As many as 17 states have some type of program that allows an essential or designated visitor, under specified circumstances.

But what are the characteristics and parameters of these programs? What are Essential caregivers permitted – and required – to do? Do the programs comply with CMS visitation guidance? Do they differ from state to state? This paper aims to answer some of these basic questions.

Note: Individual provider communities, states, and localities have established different visitation programs and policies that apply to other long-term care settings, such as assisted living. Some of the programs described in this paper apply to nursing homes as well as other long-term care settings, but the focus of this paper is Essential caregiver programs in nursing homes.

Questions?

Contact:

Laura Hofmann, MSN, RN – Director of Clinical and Nursing Facility Regulatory Services
c: 425-231-4804