John R. Bowblis PhD , Shuang Li PhD , Yong-Fang Kuo PhD , Jennifer Heston-Mullins PhD, LISW , James S. Goodwin MD , Huiwen Xu PhD
{"title":"取消联邦探视限制和疗养院中的COVID-19感染。","authors":"John R. Bowblis PhD , Shuang Li PhD , Yong-Fang Kuo PhD , Jennifer Heston-Mullins PhD, LISW , James S. Goodwin MD , Huiwen Xu PhD","doi":"10.1016/j.jamda.2025.105682","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objectives</h3><div>Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recommended restricting visitors from entering nursing homes as a precaution. The restriction was lifted on September 17, 2020. This study examines whether COVID-19 infection rates among residents increased after the lifting of the federal restriction, providing indirect evidence on the impact of introducing visitation restrictions.</div></div><div><h3>Design</h3><div>We used a difference-in-differences event-study framework to compare changes in nursing home COVID-19 infection rates in the 4 weeks before (August 23, 2020–September 13, 2020) vs. 8 weeks after (October 4, 2020–November 22, 2020) the lifting of the federal visitation restriction.</div></div><div><h3>Setting and Participants</h3><div>The study cohort included 4823 nursing homes in the 19 treatment states that never had state-level visitation bans and 1654 nursing homes in the 8 control states that implemented state bans but lifted their bans by August 2020. The control group theoretically had the ability to allow visitation before the lifting of the federal restriction.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Our primary outcomes were weekly nursing home COVID-19 infection rates among residents and community-adjusted resident infection rates. The policy change was the lifting of federal visitation restriction on September 17, 2020. All analyses control for other facility characteristics that may impact COVID-19 spread in nursing homes.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Nursing home infection rates closely mirrored the trend in community COVID-19 infections. Our regression analyses found no statistically significant increase in nursing home infection rates (ß = 2.4; 95% CI, −6.4 to 11.2) or the community-adjusted infection rates (ß = −5.2; 95% CI, −10.9 to 0.5) associated with the lifting of the federal restriction.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions and Implications</h3><div>Lifting the federal visitation restriction had a negligible impact on nursing home infection rates. Policymakers and nursing home administrators should only consider implementing visitation restrictions under extreme circumstances.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17180,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Medical Directors Association","volume":"26 7","pages":"Article 105682"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Lifting Federal Visitation Restriction and COVID-19 Infections in Nursing Homes\",\"authors\":\"John R. Bowblis PhD , Shuang Li PhD , Yong-Fang Kuo PhD , Jennifer Heston-Mullins PhD, LISW , James S. Goodwin MD , Huiwen Xu PhD\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.jamda.2025.105682\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><h3>Objectives</h3><div>Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recommended restricting visitors from entering nursing homes as a precaution. The restriction was lifted on September 17, 2020. This study examines whether COVID-19 infection rates among residents increased after the lifting of the federal restriction, providing indirect evidence on the impact of introducing visitation restrictions.</div></div><div><h3>Design</h3><div>We used a difference-in-differences event-study framework to compare changes in nursing home COVID-19 infection rates in the 4 weeks before (August 23, 2020–September 13, 2020) vs. 8 weeks after (October 4, 2020–November 22, 2020) the lifting of the federal visitation restriction.</div></div><div><h3>Setting and Participants</h3><div>The study cohort included 4823 nursing homes in the 19 treatment states that never had state-level visitation bans and 1654 nursing homes in the 8 control states that implemented state bans but lifted their bans by August 2020. The control group theoretically had the ability to allow visitation before the lifting of the federal restriction.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Our primary outcomes were weekly nursing home COVID-19 infection rates among residents and community-adjusted resident infection rates. The policy change was the lifting of federal visitation restriction on September 17, 2020. All analyses control for other facility characteristics that may impact COVID-19 spread in nursing homes.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Nursing home infection rates closely mirrored the trend in community COVID-19 infections. Our regression analyses found no statistically significant increase in nursing home infection rates (ß = 2.4; 95% CI, −6.4 to 11.2) or the community-adjusted infection rates (ß = −5.2; 95% CI, −10.9 to 0.5) associated with the lifting of the federal restriction.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions and Implications</h3><div>Lifting the federal visitation restriction had a negligible impact on nursing home infection rates. Policymakers and nursing home administrators should only consider implementing visitation restrictions under extreme circumstances.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":17180,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Journal of the American Medical Directors Association\",\"volume\":\"26 7\",\"pages\":\"Article 105682\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":4.2000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-05-28\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Journal of the American Medical Directors Association\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"3\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1525861025001999\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"医学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of the American Medical Directors Association","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1525861025001999","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Lifting Federal Visitation Restriction and COVID-19 Infections in Nursing Homes
Objectives
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recommended restricting visitors from entering nursing homes as a precaution. The restriction was lifted on September 17, 2020. This study examines whether COVID-19 infection rates among residents increased after the lifting of the federal restriction, providing indirect evidence on the impact of introducing visitation restrictions.
Design
We used a difference-in-differences event-study framework to compare changes in nursing home COVID-19 infection rates in the 4 weeks before (August 23, 2020–September 13, 2020) vs. 8 weeks after (October 4, 2020–November 22, 2020) the lifting of the federal visitation restriction.
Setting and Participants
The study cohort included 4823 nursing homes in the 19 treatment states that never had state-level visitation bans and 1654 nursing homes in the 8 control states that implemented state bans but lifted their bans by August 2020. The control group theoretically had the ability to allow visitation before the lifting of the federal restriction.
Methods
Our primary outcomes were weekly nursing home COVID-19 infection rates among residents and community-adjusted resident infection rates. The policy change was the lifting of federal visitation restriction on September 17, 2020. All analyses control for other facility characteristics that may impact COVID-19 spread in nursing homes.
Results
Nursing home infection rates closely mirrored the trend in community COVID-19 infections. Our regression analyses found no statistically significant increase in nursing home infection rates (ß = 2.4; 95% CI, −6.4 to 11.2) or the community-adjusted infection rates (ß = −5.2; 95% CI, −10.9 to 0.5) associated with the lifting of the federal restriction.
Conclusions and Implications
Lifting the federal visitation restriction had a negligible impact on nursing home infection rates. Policymakers and nursing home administrators should only consider implementing visitation restrictions under extreme circumstances.
期刊介绍:
JAMDA, the official journal of AMDA - The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, is a leading peer-reviewed publication that offers practical information and research geared towards healthcare professionals in the post-acute and long-term care fields. It is also a valuable resource for policy-makers, organizational leaders, educators, and advocates.
The journal provides essential information for various healthcare professionals such as medical directors, attending physicians, nurses, consultant pharmacists, geriatric psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, and others involved in providing, overseeing, and promoting quality