Resident’s Right to Share a Room with Another Resident of Their Choosing

Continuing on with the resident’s rights regulations, F559 in Appendix PP states that the resident has the right to share a room with another resident they choose with a few limited exceptions. This right includes the resident’s spouse when married residents live in the same nursing home with spouse including opposite and same sex married couples. The resident must be afforded the opportunity to share a room with others even if they are not married such as a domestic partnership, siblings, or friends. The limited exceptions to this right include:

• When one of the residents does not agree to share a room, including a spouse. Both residents must be in agreement to sharing a room.
• If a resident has a roommate already, they cannot demand that the roommate be displaced to accommodate the other resident moving in. In this situation, the nursing home could offer a different room choice to accommodate the desire such as moving into the other resident’s room or moving both residents into an unoccupied room. The nursing home staff can approach the current roommate about moving rooms but cannot demand that the resident do so.
• If areas of the nursing home are not certified or licensed for the type of care the resident is receiving they could not move to this area. This is typically only relevant when the nursing home has distinct composite units such as Medicare-only designated units.
  • If the resident is receiving care or service under Medicare in the distinct unit, the nursing home should discuss with them the options to remain in the distinct unit and receive Medicare services or move to a different unit within the building and pay privately for services.
  • In the situation where a nursing home has a dementia-specific unit, a resident without dementia could move into the unit based on the nursing home’s specific policies regarding admission to the dementia-specific unit. According to life safety code regulations, if this resident is alert and oriented they must be provided with the code or instructed how to exit the unit.

Residents or their representative must receive a written notice prior to a room or a roommate change. The resident should be provided with the opportunity to see the new location, meet the new roommate, and ask questions about the move. When a resident is receiving a new roommate, they should be afforded as much notice prior to the new roommate moving in as possible. In addition, if the change is due to a former roommate passing, the resident should be provided an appropriate period of time to adjust to the passing of their roommate and provided with necessary social services for grieving.

Whenever a resident’s roommate changes, the nursing home should consider the resident’s preferences as much as possible.