Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP
Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare
The Minnesota Department of Health posted this LTCF guidance today at 10:23am (bolding added by me):
Effective immediately, MDH has updated guidance for long-term care facilities including nursing homes and assisted-living-type facilities related to non-medical outings and visitation consistent with the March 10 updates from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This is an important next step for the overall health and well-being of our long-term care residents. Minnesota’s focus on vaccinating our long-term care residents now allows these residents who are vaccinated to travel and go out for activities, visits and worship without having to quarantine upon returning home.
The updated guidance includes the following recommendations related to outings and visitation, including flowcharts to help with outbreaks and exceptions for better visitation guidance understanding. You can find the documents at Long-term Care: COVID-19, under the heading visitors and outside services.
- Long-term Care Guidance for Non-medically Necessary Outings
- COVID-19 Guidance: Long-term Care Indoor Visitation for Nursing Facilities and Assisted Living-type Settings (PDF)
- Long-term Care Visitation Guidance Flowchart for Outbreak Status (PDF)
- Long-term Care Visitation Guidance Flowchart for Exceptions (PDF)
On March 10, 2021, CDC released Updated Healthcare Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations in Response to COVID-19 Vaccination. More information about the CMS change is available at the memorandum summary document QSO-20-39-NH Revised (cms.gov) (PDF).
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