News Article

Updated CMS Guidance on Visitation, Quarantine, and Testing

March 15, 2022

On March 10, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updated their guidance (QSO-20-39-NH Revised).  According to the new guidance, residents, regardless of vaccination status, can choose not to wear face coverings or masks when other residents are not present and have close contact (including touch) with their visitor. Visitors should wear face coverings or masks and physically distance when around other residents or healthcare personnel, regardless of vaccination status.

The guidance was also updated to align with the CDC's use of the term "up-to-date" with all recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses rather than "fully vaccinated."

Whether a resident should be quarantined depends on factors such as vaccination status, exposure to someone with COVID-19, and length of time outside of the facility. The guidance states that if a resident who has been outside the facility has had a close contact with an individual with COVID-19, they should be tested for COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status.  A resident with a close contact who is not up-to-date with their COVID-19 vaccine doses is to be placed in quarantine.  A nursing home may also opt to test residents, who are not up-to-date with all recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses, without symptoms if they leave the nursing home for over 24 hours.  Facilities may also quarantine residents, who are not up-to-date with all recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses and who leave the facility, if uncertainty exists about their adherence or the adherence of those around them to recommended infection prevention measures.

CMS has updated its testing guidance QSO-20-38-NH to state that long-term care residents and staff with COVID-19 symptoms or who have had close contact with someone in the facility who tested positive must be tested immediately, regardless of vaccination status.  This memo was also revised to align with the CDC's use of the term "up-to-date" with all recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses rather than "fully vaccinated."  Facility staff who are not up-to-date on their vaccines should be tested according to community transmission guidelines.