Nursing homes in Florida have informed families that residents will be forced to quarantine in isolation if they dare leave the facilities to visit loved ones for Thanksgiving and other upcoming holidays.
Conflicting guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Agency for Health Care Administration, which oversees long-term care facilities in Florida, have left families of nursing home residents confused and concerned.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced new guidance for nursing home residents, which recommends that they don’t leave their facilities for outside visits, and must quarantine upon their return if they do.
This recommendation is in direct conflict with the latest guidance from the AHCA, which oversees long-term care facilities in Florida. A few weeks ago, AHCA released clarification for Governor Ron DeSantis’ most recent LTC visitation order, saying nursing home residents must be permitted to leave facilities, including for holiday visits.
AHCA announced that its guidelines still stand, but some families say they are now being told otherwise by LTC facilities.
Jennifer Noa said that her family was told that if her mother Elsa Noa, 71, leaves for a Thanksgiving visit, she will have to quarantine in isolation when she returns, even if she passes a COVID screening. Jennifer worries that the quarantine could mean that her mother will not get her much needed physical therapy.
“Her first words to me when I kind of started to tell her the implication, she goes ‘oh, a punishment’. That was her direct comment back to me when I started to communicate to her what this means by us bringing her home,” Noa said.
According to Noa, her mother has her hopes up for the holiday visit, and that her family plans to follow CDC guidelines at home, including wearing masks.
“She’s excited. Being able to have her come home, to her it would mean being in her own bed, being in her own home,” Noa added.
Family advocate and member of the governor’s long-term care task force Mary Daniel said that she is hearing similar concerns from members of her Facebook group Caregivers for Compromise. Daniel said that she has reached out to the AHCA, requesting that they either enforce their visitation guidelines, or rescind them if they don’t feel it’s safe.
“We are reasonable people. We will do what’s in the best interest of everybody in the facility. Why am I put in a position where I have to make that decision, when I’m only following the information you’ve given me? That you said was OK and I’m following that, and now I’ve hurt my loved one,” Daniel said.
