Visitation in Nursing Homes

Dan Frith

Contributor

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We hear all the time from people that a nursing home will not allow them to go visit their mother, father, or other loved one except during specified visitation hours. This is a bunch of baloney!

The federal law governing nursing home regulation is called the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987. The Act says that the resident has the right and the facility must provide for immediate access to any resident by immediate family or other relatives of the resident, subject to the resident's consent. Under federal law, visits by others are subject to "reasonable restrictions" and the resident's consent. The "reasonable restrictions" provision does not apply to immediate family and other relatives of the resident. So...if you want to go see grandma at 1:00AM on Sunday morning they can't stop you!