LEGISLATION
Two SENIOR care bills fail in the Georgia Senate By Kathy Dean The end of the Georgia Assembly’s session in March saw the demise of two pieces of legislation that would have affected residents in nursing homes and long-term care facilities — House Bills 290 and 605. The initial purpose of HB 290 was to ensure that relatives of hospital patients and nursing/ care home residents were able to visit their loved ones, even during health emergencies like the current pandemic. HB 605, nicknamed the ‘Grammy-cam Bill,’ was designed to set up a process for longterm care facility residents or their family members to install cameras and monitor their rooms after informing the facility. While both bills managed to get support from the Georgia House of Representatives, neither
was passed by the Georgia Senate and they languished until their time ran out. According to an April 1 article in Capitol Beat, there is a chance that both bills could be revived in 2022.
Visiting rights
HB-290 was prompted by the COVID-19 crisis. Family members of care home residents lobbied lawmakers to allow them to visit their relatives. Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth) is the bill’s lead sponsor. Originally, HB-290 would have blocked hospitals or longterm care facilities from denying visitations between family members and patients/residents who were in care for more than 24 hours. Supporters argued that families should have the right to be in close contact with elderly and ill family members — even during a pandemic. They shared tragic
stories, such as being unable to say final goodbyes in person with their dying parents. Hospital and long-term healthcare professionals, on the other hand, expressed concern that an influx of visitors would weaken safety protocols and violate federal rules about allowing visitors during emergencies. Hospital groups spoke against the bill, claiming that allowing such visits would endanger the health of patients, residents and staff during outbreaks of infectious disease. As a compromise, a Senate committee changed the bill to allow only “legal representatives or caregivers” at least one hour of access to patients/residents in care for more than 12 hours. The facilities also would have the right to set “reasonable safety requirements” for the visits, and they could stop or deny access to
anyone who didn’t comply with the safety protocols. Later, it was further amended to require only that hospitals and nursing homes follow federal rules for allowing outside visitors. Still, HB-290 didn’t get beyond the Senate floor. On March 24,. Setzler posted a response to the Senate committee’s changes on his Facebook page: “Hospital lobbyists completely GUTTED the right of patients to see their family members in the hospital! … We are, however, undaunted and will fight until we win for the rights of all Georgians who spent 2020 watching their Mom or Dad die in the hospital with no chance to see them face-to-face.’’
Grammy-Cam
The Grammy-cam Bill, HB-605, was the result of a 2014 nursing home death. Continued on page 8
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MAY 2021 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com
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