Nursing Homes Face Covid-19 Risk After Waiting Period Rollback

The nation’s most vulnerable could be exposed to Covid-19 after a mandatory waiting period for nursing home admissions was rolled back, health-care workers fear.

In response to the pandemic, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has temporarily waived a mandatory three-day hospital stay before a patient qualifies for transfer to a skilled nursing facility. The waiting period is typically required before Medicare covers a nursing home stay.

The unintended effect could be a rapid influx of patients into nursing centers who may have been exposed to Covid-19 at hospitals, said Savera Sandhu, an attorney with Newmeyer Dillion in ...