Hospital visitation rules loosened
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has rescinded three executive orders focused on FOIA response deadlines, licensing and regulation of emergency medical services, and regulatory requirements on hospitals and care facilities.
Executive Orders 202039 (licensing and regulation of emergency medical services) and 2020-82 (regulatory requirements on hospitals and care facilities) will be rescinded immediately. Executive Order 2020-38 (extension of FOIA deadlines) will be rescinded on June 11.
On Wednesday, Robert Gordon, director of MDHHS, also issued an epidemic order loosening hospital visitor restrictions. The restrictions had been put into place statewide during the peak of COVID-19 when hospitals experienced a surge in patients, resulting in decreased capacity and increased potential of virus spread.
As of last Tuesday, Beaumont Health reported 172 COVID-19 patients while the Henry Ford Health System reported 60 COVID-19 patients. The number of new cases being reported statewide has been trending down since mid-May, from 620 new cases on
May 13 to 67 new cases on June 1.
Whitmer said being able to roll back executive orders and allow more people to be able to visit their loved ones in hospitals is a clear signal that the state is making progress in the fight against COVID-19.
“As we slowly and safely reopen our economy, it’s important to roll back emergency orders designed to deal with the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Whitmer said.
Under this new epidemic order issued by MDHHS, health care facilities are now required to:
• Limit visitor entry to designated entrances that allow proper screening.
• Post signage at the visitor entrance instructing visitors to be assessed for symptoms of COVID-19 before entry and instructing persons who have symptoms of a respiratory infection, including, but not limited to, fever, cough, or shortness of breath to not enter the facility.
• Perform a health evaluation of all individuals that are not under the care of the facility each time the individual seeks to enter the facility, and deny entry to those individuals who do not meet the evaluation criteria.
• Strongly discourage entering any facility to visit persons at high risk of developing severe complications from COVID-19, including older adults and persons with underlying medical conditions.
• Restrict visitation to the patient’s room or other designated locations.
• Require visitors who are medically able to wear a mask or other cloth face covering for the duration of their visit, and swiftly remove from the facility visitors who fail to abide by this requirement.
• For in-patient stays, make available on-site and off-site alternatives to inperson visits, such as video or audio calls.
• Disallow visitation during aerosol-generating procedures or during collection of respiratory specimens unless deemed necessary by hospital staff for the care and well-being of the patient.
• Permit visitation only during select hours and limits the number of visitors per resident.
Under Executive Order 2020-39, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) was not required to conduct annual random inspections of life support vehicles or annual inspections of life support agencies. It also allowed staffing and licensing requirements for ambulances to be reduced and the expiration dates of all emergency medical services personnel licenses and professional certifications in basic cardiac life support to be extended.
Under Executive Order 2020-82, regulatory requirements on hospitals and care facilities were temporarily lifted to help ensure an adequate supply of health care workers and health care providers to serve patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Executive Order 202038 relaxed requirements for responding to FOIA requests. Under the order, all FOIA requests requiring state workers to report to work in-person to search physical records, were to be deferred until after the state of emergency and disaster declared was lifted.
Whitmer said being able to roll back executive orders and allow more people to be able to visit their loved ones in hospitals is a clear signal that the state is making progress in the fight against COVID-19.