Request that Governor Abbott direct hospices to suspend non-critical visits

To the Honorable Greg Abbott:

There is now a COVID-19 case in an Austin nursing home.

Please direct hospices to stop making visits to nursing homes unless they are required by an actual need for critical assistance.

Hospices are still directing staff to visit nursing homes even when there is no immediate need for critical assistance. Many nursing homes are denying hospice providers access unless there is a need for critical assistance, and hospice workers are being told to assert that they should enter because they are considered essential workers.

While critical situations can emerge in hospice care, many visits function as supportive checkups that do not warrant the risk of spreading COVID-19. Several hospices are continuing to provide these visits.

In order to slow the spread of COVID-19 among the elderly population, please order that hospices only visit nursing homes when there is a specific and urgent need for critical assistance.

Sincerely,

Concerned Texans, which include:

Hospice Nurses, Hospice Social Workers, Hospice Chaplains, Hospice Certified Nursing Assistants, Friends and Family members of vulnerable elderly nursing home patients.

Hospice workers in Texas    Contact the author of the petition