RHODE ISLAND — Nursing home providers have pushed back against the state’s decision to ease COVID-19 testing requirements for patients discharged from hospitals and into long-term care facilities.
The Rhode Island Department of Health’s guidance went into effect in late August and only requires patients being discharged from a hospital to a nursing home to have just one negative coronavirus test.
The rule applies to patients who haven’t previously had the disease or those whose COVID-19 status was unknown.
The move reverted back to the state’s initial testing requirements for patients being discharged from hospitals to nursing homes at the start of the pandemic. They later changed course in mid-April to require two negative tests from that population.
“Two negative tests has been shown to be a good policy, and we think it should be kept,” said Scott Fraser, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Health Care Association.
From the October 2020 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
