The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has confirmed that nursing home providers must continue to follow recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) for managing residents and staff following COVID-19 infection.

LeadingAge has been advocating for a change to recommendations since the end of the public health emergency in 2023 and most recently requested CMS to allow nursing homes to follow state requirements and/or local public health guidelines due to the outdated nature of the CDC guidelines.

CMS states that providers must continue to follow accepted national standards for infection prevention and control and, as CDC’s guidelines are the only accepted national standards for COVID at this time, providers must continue to follow recommendations for nursing home residents to isolate for 10-20 days following COVID infection and for healthcare personnel to be restricted from work for 7-10 days following COVID infection.

LeadingAge will continue to advocate for updated guidelines that optimize the health and wellbeing of older adults.