DPH Issues Revised Guidance to Allow Safe Visitation in Georgia’s Long-Term Care Facilities

ATLANTA (September 21, 2020) – Today the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) issued a revised Administrative Order on Georgia’s long-term care facility reopening guidance. The order follows recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) guidance that lays out a framework for nursing homes to facilitate on-site visitation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the DPH Administrative Order

Read the updated CMS guidance on visitation in nursing homes

This Administrative Order extends to all Georgia long-term care facilities, excluding community living arrangements, community integration homes and small personal care homes (with less than 25 beds), as set forth in the most recent Executive Order issued by Governor Brian Kemp.

“Georgia’s top priority in our fight against COVID-19 has been protecting our state’s most vulnerable populations,” said Governor Kemp. “I have heard from the families of Georgia’s long-term care facility residents who have been anxious to have an even greater ability to spend quality time together in person for the mental and emotional well-being of their loved ones. Under the Georgia Department of Public Health’s expanded Administrative Order based on the CMS guidance and my Executive Order, I am pleased to say that we are carefully moving in that direction. I would encourage long-term care facilities to review the revised Administrative Order so that visits occur in a safe manner without increasing the spread of COVID-19.”