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Ensuring Residents Can Receive Visits During Emergencies or Outbreaks

Current Status

A4040 — Assembly Aging and Human Services Committee

Check for hearings or updates

S1825 — Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Committee

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This legislation requires long-term care facilities to develop person-centered care plans for residents and establishes the right to certain forms of visitation.

Specifically, residents — or their guardians or legal representatives — would be permitted to designate at least two essential caregivers who are authorized to visit the resident in person during a state of emergency or an outbreak, epidemic, or pandemic that is affecting, or is likely to affect, the long-term care facility.

Essential caregivers can be any individual the resident chooses, such as a family member, friend, or religious or spiritual guide.

Long-term care facilities may not set any requirements or criteria for who can be designated as an essential caregiver. Essential caregivers would be required to follow the same infection control policies as facility staff during their visits.

The Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman supports this legislation.

Our staff members witnessed firsthand how visitation restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in social isolation that harmed the well-being of long-term care residents.