The 2022 Regular Session has wrapped up and I have gotten back into my normal work and family routine. One of the topics that I was able to successfully support this year was in-person visitation for nursing facilities and assisted living centers. While the topic was originally brought as a bill, I met with industry representatives and decided the goal would be better accomplished as a resolution. The rules that locked down nursing facilities came from the Federal Government with the threat that funding would be withheld if the rules were not followed. To ensure that this situation does not happen again, the resolution states that the South Dakota State Legislature supports protecting in-person visitation for our residents. We urge the members of our congressional delegation to "join with their counterparts from the other states to ensure that any federal statutes, regulations, guidance, and orders addressing the health and well-being of patients and residents, in nursing facilities and assisted living centers, during a pandemic, incorporate ongoing visitation and personal interactions, and support the efforts of the facilities and centers to provide such opportunities to patients, residents, and their loves ones."
We will be carefully watching any future federal rule changes and will work to ensure that such extensive lockdowns never happen again.
You can see the full resolution here: 2022 House Concurrent Resolution 6012 - SD Legislature Urging the development of options for ensuring continued visitation of patients and residents in nursing facilities and assisted living centers.
You can also see who voted in support of the resolution here: South Dakota House Concurrent Resolution 6012 (sdlegislature.gov)
