GSLA Members,

On July 11, the Department of Community Health held a board meeting and discussed the implementation of HB 663, the No Patient Left Alone Act. In response to the COVID-19 era restrictions on visitation in hospitals and long-term care settings, the Bill affirms residents’ right to have a designated essential caregiver present to assist with their medical, health, and personal needs. However, the Bill also affirms long-term care providers, including providers of ALC and PCH, the right to set reasonable visitation rules and to enforce those rules if the conduct of a visitor presents a substantial health or safety risk or is otherwise threatening or disruptive to residents, staff, or other visitors.

One of the requirements of the Act is that providers post a notice of these rights and responsibilities on an informational form provided by the department, which you can find through the buttons below. The Department stated that providers should post the notice on their websites, in either the one-page or two-page forms provided, as soon as possible, to comply with the Act. Providers without a website can post the notice form in a public area of their building.

For more information, please refer to the text of  HB 663  and the forms below. If you have any questions, please reach out to the GSLA Affairs Team at  GovernmentAffairs@gasla.org