Long-Term Care Visitation Restrictions by County

As IHCA/INCAL reported on July 17, 2020, long-term care facilities are not required to offer a mixture of indoor and outdoor visitation four (4) hours each day Monday through Friday and over each weekend if the county in which the facility is located or the local health department has otherwise restricted visitation.  If the county or local health department has only restricted indoor visitation, outdoor visitation would still be required under the Indiana State Department of Health’s (ISDH) Visitation Guidelines, unless weather prevents outdoor visitation.

Several local health departments across Indiana have issued long-term care visitation restrictions to date.  As of July 21, 2020, a chart listing the known restrictions by county can be found here.  The chart includes the applicable language from each local health department order or communication regarding long-term care visitation.

Access chart listing visitation restrictions by county

We will continue to update this chart, but it may not be comprehensive, as local health department orders can be issued or change on a rapid basis.  We encourage all long-term care facilities to communicate with their local health department regularly to discuss local conditions and any applicable restrictions.

We also encourage long-term care facilities with applicable local visitation restrictions to:

• Share communications from your local health department with your local hospital partners.
• Update your communications with your residents and resident representatives to reflect any changes to visitation based on local health department recommendations and/or orders.
• Notify the facility’s medical director, medical staff, and employees of any changes to visitation.
• Maintain copies of all communications from your local health department, both electronically and in ISDH’s Infection Control Toolkit Binder.
• Forward a copy of any local health department recommendations and/or orders to ldavenport@ihca.org.

As a reminder, under 42 CFR § 483.73(a)(4), a requirement of participation with CMS for nursing facilities that has not otherwise been waived, a nursing facility’s Emergency Preparedness Plan must include a process for cooperation and collaboration with local, tribal, regional, state, and federal emergency preparedness officials’ efforts to maintain an integrated response during a disaster or emergency situation, including documentation of the facility’s efforts to contact such officials and, when applicable, of its participation in collaborative and cooperative planning efforts.  Appendix Z further elaborates stating that the risk-assessment should be based on an all-hazards approach specific to the geographic location of the facility.