North Carolina General Statutes
Article 5 - Hospital Licensure Act.
§ 131E-79.3 - Hospital patient visitation, civil penalty.

131E-79.3. Hospital patient visitation, civil penalty.
(a) Each hospital licensed under this Article shall permit patients to receive visitors to the fullest extent permitted under any applicable rules, regulations, or guidelines adopted by either the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or any federal law.
(b) In the event the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or any other federal agency finds a hospital has violated any rule, regulation, guidance, or federal law relating to a patient's visitation rights, the Department may issue a warning to the hospital about the violation and give the hospital not more than 24 hours to allow visitation. If visitation is not allowed after the 24-hour warning period, the Department shall impose a civil penalty in an amount not less than five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each instance on each day the hospital was found to have a violation. This civil penalty shall be in addition to any fine or civil penalty that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or other federal agency may choose to impose.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, in the event that circumstances require the complete closure of a hospital to visitors, the hospital shall use its best efforts to develop alternate visitation protocols that would allow visitation to the greatest extent safely possible. If those alternate protocols are found by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or any other federal agency to violate any rule, regulation, guidance, or federal law relating to a patient's visitation rights, the Department may impose a civil penalty in an amount not less than five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each instance on each day the hospital was found to have a violation. This civil penalty shall be in addition to any fine or civil penalty that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or other federal agency may choose to impose.
(d) Each hospital shall provide notice of the patient visitation rights in this act to patients and, when possible, family members of patients. The required notice shall also include the contact information for the agency or individuals tasked with investigating violations of hospital patient visitation.
(e) Subject to, and to the fullest extent permitted by, any rules, regulations, or guidelines adopted by either the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or any federal law, each hospital shall allow compassionate care visits. A hospital may require compassionate care visitors to submit to health screenings necessary to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, and, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this section, a hospital may restrict a compassionate care visitor who does not pass a health screening requirement or who has tested positive for an infectious disease. A hospital may require compassionate care visitors to adhere to infection control procedures, including wearing personal protective equipment. Compassionate care situations that require visits include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) End-of-life situations.
(2) A patient who was living with his or her family before recently being admitted to the facility is struggling with the change in environment and lack of physical family support.
(3) A patient who is grieving after a friend or family member recently passed away.
(4) A patient who needs cueing and encouragement with eating or drinking, previously provided by family or caregivers, is experiencing weight loss or dehydration.
(5) A patient, who used to talk and interact with others, is experiencing emotional distress, seldom speaking, or crying more frequently when the patient had rarely cried in the past.
(f) The Commission shall adopt rules necessary to require each hospital to have written policies and procedures for visitation. (2021-171, s. 2; 2021-181, s. 2(a).)

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