YourVoice.Now Summary
Civil LibertiesTransparency & AccountabilityCorporate BenefitsNursing home residents could name two visitors the home would have to let in — even when all other visits stop.
Civil Liberties
Facilities sometimes suspend all visiting, as many did during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each resident could then name two people who still get in, one at a time, with the Health Secretary setting the few cases where a home may say no.
This covers residents who have chosen hospice care. For them a facility could not turn the caregiver away or put a clock on the visit, and none of the bill's other limits would apply.
In a declared public health emergency, the Secretary of Health and Human Services can waive many rules these facilities must follow. The new visiting rules would be left off the list of what can be waived.
Some residents cannot make the choice themselves because their thinking has declined or because of a mental disability. The representative already recognized under federal rules to act for them could name the two caregivers.
A facility could still set safety and infection-control rules for these visits. It would have to put them in writing, and could not make them tougher than the rules its own staff follow.
Transparency & Accountability
States run the complaint process for these facilities and set their own deadlines today. A complaint about a blocked essential-caregiver visit would jump the line, and the state would owe the person an answer within 3 days.
Corporate Benefits
Homes that take Medicare or Medicaid would have to run this program to keep meeting federal requirements. That means written visitor rules, and video access for any caregiver made to wait the first 7 days.
More about this bill
If someone you love lives in a nursing home, you could keep seeing them even when the home stops visits. Each resident could name two "essential caregivers." That choice could be changed at any time. A home could still make a caregiver wait up to 7 days, but only if it set up video calls. Residents in hospice care could not be made to wait at all. The rule would cover Medicare and Medicaid nursing homes. It would also cover long-term care hospitals, rehab hospitals, and homes for people with intellectual disabilities. Safety rules for these visits could be no stricter than the rules staff follow. The government could not waive any of this during a public health emergency. Complaints about a blocked visit would get an answer within 3 days. The change would start one year after the bill became law.
Congressional Summary
Essential Caregivers Act of 2026This bill requires certain nursing and long-term care facilities to ensure residents have access to their designated essential caregivers during periods of restricted visitation.Specifically, the bill requires Medicare skilled nursing facilities, long-term care hospitals, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities, as well as Medicaid nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities, to allow residents to designate two essential caregivers and to allow these caregivers in-person access to residents even when visitation is otherwise restricted. Facilities may limit access of essential caregivers only in accordance with guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, as specified. Essential caregivers must agree to follow all safety protocols established by the facility, which may be no more restrictive than the protocols for staff.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2026-07-13
- Date Added
- 2026-09-03
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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