OH HB324

Hospitals must permit in-person visitation with hospitalized patients by family members, caregivers, companions, and clergy persons during public health emergencies or when contagious diseases are unusually prevalent, conducted in conformity with the hospital's pre-emergency visitation guidelines.

Public health orders cannot prevent reasonable visitation by family members, caregivers, companions, or clergy persons if a patient's condition becomes terminal.

Hospitals may require visitor symptom screening, prohibit symptomatic visitors, restrict visitor movement to patient rooms or designated spaces, and require personal protective equipment and safety precautions during visits.

Hospitals may limit simultaneous visitors but cannot restrict patients to only one designated visitor; clergy persons do not count toward visitor limits and may visit in addition to other permitted visitors.

The law does not apply in ways that conflict with federal regulatory guidance from agencies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.