Nursing Home and ACF Members Are Reminded That Personal/Compassionate Caregiving Regulations Are in Effect
LeadingAge NY reminds members that the Emergency Personal/Compassionate Caregiving Regulations are in effect and applicable to nursing homes and adult care facilities (ACFs). Click here for a summary of the regulations and a link to the text of the regulations. Members have until today, June 15th, to talk with their residents about the opportunity to designate at least two personal caregivers and at least two compassionate caregivers and document that in the resident’s records. The resident may choose the same person or people for both roles, or different people.
We understand that there is some confusion about the regulations and their implementation now that ACFs and nursing homes are largely open for visitation. Please note that even if you do not need to utilize this option at this time, you must allow residents to designate caregivers and develop policies and procedures. You will also have to provide new admissions the opportunity to designate caregivers and have a process to revisit this at required intervals to allow residents to make changes as they desire. While the caregiver role becomes pertinent in the event of a public health emergency, some of these processes will need to be implemented in your routine activities. Thus, we urge you to review the regulations carefully.
We have yet to see a Dear Administrator Letter (DAL) from the Department of Health (DOH) regarding the new regulations. We have circled back with DOH regarding our questions about the regulations and our request that members have more time to implement given the need for thoughtful discussions with residents and families. Unfortunately, we have not received a response to date, with the exception of one clarification below. While specific to nursing homes, we presume the same logic would apply to ACFs:
LeadingAge NY asked DOH about the interaction of these regulations with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) guidance governing nursing home visitation during an outbreak. DOH counsel’s office responded: “Consistent with current CMS and NYSDOH visitation guidance, the emergency visitation regulations would not permit a personal caregiving visitor to visit a resident who is on Transmission Based Precautions until such time a resident is removed from such precautions; however, if the personal caregiving visitor is providing compassionate caregiving, as defined in the new 10 NYCRR 415.3(d)(4), such visitor must be permitted into the facility provided they meet the screening standards set forth in section 415.3(d)(4)(iii).”
Contact: Diane Darbyshire, ddarbyshire@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8828