Legislation sponsored by Rep. Kathy Rapp, R-Warren, to create an essential caregiver in long-term care facilities is being sent to Gov. Tom Wolf for approval.

After being unanimously approved on March 24 by the House of Representatives, House Bill 649 was passed by the state Senate in a 32-18 vote. It was signed in the House on June 16 and signed in the Senate on June 21. The bill was presented to Wolf last Tuesday.

Rapp attempted to get the legislation passed late in 2020 to open nursing homes to essential caregivers when facilities were still locked down due to COVID-19. The Warren Republican said the legislation is still necessary despite Centers for Disease Control guidance that allows families back into congregate care buildings.

Rapp proposes to create an essential caregiver position in long-term care facilities through a regulation that mirrors those passed in Minnesota and Indiana. The legislation has been amended three times.

Rapp proposes to create an essential caregiver position in long-term care facilities through a regulation that mirrors those passed in Minnesota and Indiana. The legislation was amended three times before being passed by the legislature.

“I don’t know if other states have passed it, but this bill is modeled from those other states and we do know now that the CDC has said the facilities can be open,” Rapp said during a March 17 House Health Committee meeting where the bill was approved. “However this bill will address if we have another lockdown that families will be able to be with their loved one — with necessary precautions and CDC guidelines — and I believe this is timely even though the CDC has said we’re going to move forward and all families can visit. I do not believe in good conscience that we should allow this situation to happen again.”

Essential caregivers would be allowed to be designated for those in a long-term care nursing facility, a skilled nursing facility, an assisted living facility, a personal care home, congregate care facility or an intermediate care facility for those with intellectual disabilities.

The caregiver would be designated by the resident or someone with decision-making authority for the resident to provide physical or emotional support during a disaster emergency.

Essential caregivers would have to meet state restrictions on travel, enhanced testing for communicable diseases and use of safety equipment to protect facility residents. The law also includes a 45-day period after a disaster emergency declaration when a facility can be locked down and essential caregivers not be allowed in so that safety measures for residents can be established.

Facilities could limit the length of visits, number of visits a week, location of visits and the spacing of visitors. Essential caregivers would be required to pay the costs of personal protective equipment.

The most controversial aspect of the legislation for Health Committee members was an amendment that allows facilities to extend the 45-day lockdown once a disaster emergency is declared — but only if staff remain in the facilities along with residents.