The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued its Interim Final Rule Updating Requirements for Notification of Confirmed and Suspected COVID-19 Cases Among Residents and Staff in Nursing Homes. This is good news for people who are concerned about their relatives living in long-term care.

CMS will require nursing homes to report COVID-19 facility data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and to report to residents, their representatives, and families of residents in facilities. Failure to report in accordance with 42 CFR §483.80(g) can result in an enforcement action.

There have been some problems for Alabama residents trying to obtain information about infection rates in individual facilities despite the fact that it is reported that residents and staff members of long-term care facilities now account for about 13 percent of the cases in Alabama, and 100 deaths in long-term cre facilities account for more than a third of the state’s total deaths as of May 1. Since relatives have been unable to visit since March, a great deal of anxiety about the care of residents has increased.

In Alabama up until now staff are required to tell families if someone living or working at the facility has tested positive for coronavirus, but those facilities do not have to say how many cases have been reported. Greater transparency will benefit family members seeking to protect their institutionalized loved ones.