Bill Setting NC Nursing Home Visit Standards Gets Final OK

North Carolina health regulators would establish by next year visitation policies for nursing homes and adult care homes for declared emergencies like a pandemic in legislation heading to Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk. The bill received final legislative approval on Tuesday. It tells the state Department of Health and Human Services to create visitation protocols for declared emergencies and implement them by next June. Those protocols would allow each resident to receive a visit at least twice per month from a preapproved visitor. Visitations would still be subject to federal health directives. The bill is a response to visitation bans during the COVID-19 pandemic.