House Bill No. 6457
Public Act No. 21-160
AN ACT CONCERNING ACCESS TO RECORDINGS AND IMAGES
FROM TECHNOLOGY USED BY NURSING HOME RESIDENTS FOR
VIRTUAL VISITATION AND VIRTUAL MONITORING.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2021) (a) For purposes of this
section:
(1) "Nursing home facility" has the same meaning as provided in
section 19a-490 of the general statutes;
(2) "Resident" means a resident of a nursing home facility;
(3) "Resident representative" means (A) a court-appointed
conservator of the person or guardian, (B) a health care representative
appointed pursuant to section 19a-575a of the general statutes, or (C) if
there is no court-appointed conservator of the person or guardian, or
health care representative, a person who is (i) designated in a written
document signed by the resident and included in the resident's records
on file with the facility, or (ii) if there is no such written document, a
person who is a legally liable relative or other responsible party,
provided such person is not an employer or contractor of the facility;
(4) "Technology" means a device capable of remote audio or video House Bill No. 6457
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communications, or both, that may include recording capabilities;
(5) "Virtual monitoring" means remote monitoring of a resident by a
third party via technology owned and operated by the resident in the
resident's room or living quarters; and
(6) "Virtual visitation" means remote visitation between a resident
and family members or other persons with technology.
(b) An employee of a nursing home facility or an employee of a
contractor providing services at a nursing home facility who is the
subject of proposed disciplinary action by the nursing home facility
based upon evidence obtained from technology used by a resident for
virtual visitation or virtual monitoring shall be given access to that
evidence by the nursing home facility for the purpose of defending
against such action, provided the nursing home facility and the
employee (1) treat any recordings or images obtained from the
technology as confidential, and (2) not further disseminate any
recordings or images obtained from the technology to any other person
except as required under law. Any copy of a recording or image used in
such disciplinary action must be returned to the resident who provided
the copy when it is no longer needed for purposes of defending against
a proposed action.
(c) The Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman, may, without
consulting a nursing home facility, ask a resident about the existence of
recordings or images taken from technology used for virtual visitation
or virtual monitoring that could corroborate an allegation of abuse or
neglect.
(d) Except as otherwise required under law, a resident or resident
representative may voluntarily release recordings or images taken from
technology used for virtual monitoring or virtual visitation, provided
such release does not infringe on the privacy rights of any other person House Bill No. 6457
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under state or federal law. A nursing home facility, or any agent or
employee of a nursing home facility, may not solicit or request any
recordings or images from a resident or a resident representative taken
from technology used for virtual visitation or virtual monitoring for any
reason, except for the purpose of investigating an allegation of abuse or
neglect based upon a recording or image taken from such technology. If
the Department of Public Health initiates a complaint investigation
based upon an image or recording from virtual visitation technology or
virtual monitoring technology, the Department of Public Health may
provide a copy of such image or recording to the nursing home facility
that is the subject of the investigation.