N.C. Gen. Stat. § 131E-112-7 — NC Code / Chapter 131E / Section 131E-112-7
§ 131E-112.7. Patient visitation rights for nursing home residents and combination home residents
Status: in_force

(a) Each nursing or combination home licensed under this Part shall permit patients and residents to receive visitors to the fullest extent permitted under any applicable rules, regulations, or guidelines adopted by either the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or any federal law.

(b) In the event the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or any other federal agency finds a nursing or combination home has violated any rule, regulation, guidance, or federal law relating to a patient's or resident's visitation rights, the Department may issue a warning to the nursing or combination home about the violation and give the nursing or combination home not more than 24 hours to allow visitation. If visitation is not allowed after the 24-hour warning period, the Department shall impose a civil penalty in an amount not less than five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each instance on each day the nursing or combination home was found to have a violation. This civil penalty shall be in addition to any fine or civil penalty that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or other federal agency may choose to impose.

(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, in the event that circumstances require the complete closure of a nursing or combination home to visitors, the nursing or combination home shall use its best efforts to develop alternate visitation protocols that would allow visitation to the greatest extent safely possible. If those alternate protocols are found by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or any other federal agency to violate any rule, regulation, guidance, or federal law relating to a patient's or resident's visitation rights, the Department may impose a civil penalty in an amount not less than five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each instance on each day the nursing or combination home was found to have a violation. This civil penalty shall be in addition to any fine or civil penalty that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or other federal agency may choose to impose.

(d) Each nursing or combination home shall provide notice of the patient and resident visitation rights in this act to patients and residents and, when possible, family members of patients and residents. The required notice shall also include the contact information for the agency or individuals tasked with investigating violations of nursing or combination home patient and resident visitation.

(e) Subject to, and to the fullest extent permitted by, any rules, regulations, or guidelines adopted by either the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or any federal law, each nursing or combination home shall allow compassionate care visits. A nursing or combination home may require compassionate care visitors to submit to health screenings necessary to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, and, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this section, a nursing or combination home may restrict a compassionate care visitor who does not pass a health screening requirement or who has tested positive for an infectious disease. A nursing or combination home may require compassionate care visitors to adhere to infection control procedures, including wearing personal protective equipment. Compassionate care situations that require visits include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) End-of-life situations.

(2) A resident who was living with his or her family before recently being admitted to the facility is struggling with the change in environment and lack of physical family support.

(3) A resident who is grieving after a friend or family member recently passed away.

(4) A resident who needs cueing and encouragement with eating or drinking, previously provided by family or caregivers, is experiencing weight loss or dehydration.

(5) A resident, who used to talk and interact with others, is experiencing emotional distress, seldom speaking, or crying more frequently when the resident had rarely cried in the past.