In-person visitation; policies and procedures at certain facilities.

A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 5 of Title 32.1 an article numbered 9, consisting of a section numbered
32.1-162.15:13
, relating to in-person visitation policies and procedures at certain facilities.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding in Chapter 5 of Title 32.1 an article numbered 9, consisting of a section numbered
32.1-162.15:13
, as follows:

Article
9
.

In
-person
V
isitation
.

§
32.1-162.15:1
3
.
In-person visitation.

A.
As used in

t
his article
, "facility
"
means

any
(i)
training center as defined in §
37.2-100
;
(ii)
hospital
, nursing home
,
or
certified nursing facilit
y
licensed
pursuant to
§
32.1-126
;
(iii)

hospice or hospice facilit
y
licensed
pursuant to
§
32.1-162.3
;

(iv)
assisted living facilit
y
licensed
pursuant to
§
63.2-1800
;
and
(v)

intermediate care facilit
y
for individuals with
i
ntellectual disability

established pursuant to
42 C
.
F
.
R
.

§
440.150.

B.
E
ach
facility
shall establish
in-person
visitation policies and procedures
that
, at a minimum, include
(i)
infection control and education policies for
visitors
;
(ii)
screening, personal protective equipment
,
and other infection control

protocols for visitors;
(iii)
permissible
length
of visits
and number of visitors;
and
(iv)
designation of a person responsible for ensuring that staff adhere to
such
policies and procedures.
Safety
-
related
policies
shall not be more stringent than those established for the
facility
's staff and
shall
not require visitors to submit
proof of any vaccination or immunization. The policies and procedures
shall
allow consensual physical contact between
the visitor and the
resident, client, or patient
of
the
facility
.

C. A resident, client, or patient
of a facility
may designate a visitor who is a family member, friend, guardian
,
or
other individual as an essential caregiver. The
facility

shall
allow in-person visitation by the essential caregiver for at least two hours daily in addition to any other visitation authorized by the
facility
.
An essential caregiver shall not be required
to provide necessary care to a resident, client, or patient of a
facility
, and
facilities
may not require an essential caregiver to provide such care.

D. The
in-person
visitation policies and procedures required by this section
shall
allow in-person
visitation
in

any
of the following
circumstances, unless the

resident, client, or patient objects:

1. End-of-life situations;

2.
The
resident, client, or patient was living with
a
family
member
before being admitted to the
facility
'
s
care
and
is struggling with the change in environment and lack of in-person family support;

3. The resident, client, or patient is making one or more major medical decisions;

4.
The
resident, client, or patient is experiencing emotional distress or grieving the
recent death of a friend or family member;

5.
The
resident, client, or patient needs cueing or encouragement to eat or drink
that
was previously provided by a family member or caregiver;

6.
The
resident, client, or patient used to talk and interact with others
but now
is seldom speaking;

7.
In the case of a

hospital
, child
birth, including labor and delivery;
or

8.
The resident
, client, or patient is a child
.

E. The policies and procedures may require a visitor to agree in
writing
to follow the
facility
's policies and procedures. A
facility
may suspend in-person visitation of
any visitor who violates

the
facility
's policies and procedures
after signing such agreement
.

F.
The
facility
shall provide
the
visitation
policies and procedures
required pursuant to this section

to
its designated
licensing agency
when applying for initial licensure, licensure renewal, or change of ownership.
The
facility
shall make the visitation policies and procedures available to the
licensing agency

for review at any time, upon request.

G.
Within

24 hours
of
establishing the policies and procedures required under this section,
each

facilit
y

shall
make such policies and procedures easily accessible from
its website
homepage.
The
licensing agency for each facility
shall dedicate a stand-alone page on its website to explain the
in-person
visitation requirements of this article and provide a link to the
licensing agency
's webpage to report complaints.

2. That the policies and procedures required by the first enactment of this act shall be implemented no later than August 1, 2026.