Healthcare professional in blue scrubs and a face mask reading a folder in a corridor.

Moving Between Care Settings With an Unresolved Infection Precaution

ByNHP Specialist Care Team

A care transfer can occur while an infection question is still active.

The resident may be on transmission-based precautions, receiving antibiotics, awaiting a culture, carrying a multidrug-resistant organism, or moving during a facility outbreak. Families can easily receive shorthand such as “still on isolation” without knowing what the receiving facility needs.

Do not interpret the test or choose the precaution yourself. Ask the sending infection-prevention/clinical team to communicate the exact status and required precautions directly to the receiving facility.

CDC provides an inter-facility infection-control transfer form specifically to help facilities communicate infection status, precautions, antibiotics, devices, wounds, and related information across care settings.

Ask what is actually known

Use precise categories:

  • confirmed infection;
  • colonization;
  • suspected infection;
  • test pending;
  • precaution in place;
  • precaution discontinued;
  • treatment ongoing; or
  • exposure/outbreak concern.

Do not use “infectious” as a catch-all label.

Ask the clinician:

“What exact status and precaution should the receiving facility use, and who is communicating it?”

The receiving facility needs the information before or with transfer

CDC’s MDRO prevention guidance emphasizes communication whenever an infected or colonized patient/resident moves between healthcare facilities. At minimum, the organism and necessary infection-control actions should be communicated.

Ask:

  • Has the receiving facility been notified?
  • Who received the information?
  • What precautions are required on arrival?
  • Does the receiving facility have the appropriate room and PPE?
  • Are antibiotics or other treatments continuing?
  • Are any cultures/results still pending?
  • Which clinician or infection-prevention contact should the receiving team call?

The family should not be the only messenger.

Infection status should not automatically become a blanket admission rule

For Candida auris, CDC specifically states that discharge or acceptance decisions should be based on clinical criteria and the receiving facility’s ability to provide care—not simply the presence or absence of infection or colonization.

That statement is organism-specific guidance, not a promise that every facility can manage every infectious condition.

Ask whether the receiving setting can implement the specific precautions required for this resident.

Outbreaks can change transfer decisions

CDC’s nursing-home respiratory-virus toolkit says facilities may consider avoiding admissions or transfers into and out of affected units—or facility-wide when an outbreak is widespread—if initial interventions are insufficient.

That does not mean every outbreak stops every transfer.

Ask the sending and receiving infection-prevention teams whether the current outbreak changes the plan.

Keep pending results on an accountability list

If a culture, susceptibility, or other infection-related test is still pending, record:

Test: ____________________

Expected result: ____________________

Who reviews it: ____________________

Who sends it to receiving facility: ____________________

Receiving contact: ____________________

What action could change: ____________________

Do not interpret the result from a patient portal yourself. The responsible clinician should determine whether precautions or treatment change.

Ask about transport precautions

The sending clinical team and transport provider should determine any required precautions during transport.

The family should not improvise PPE, isolation, or vehicle-cleaning instructions based on a blog article.

Ask:

  • Does the transport team need advance notice?
  • Is PPE required?
  • Are there device or wound considerations?
  • Who communicates the precautions to transport staff?

Infection-transfer handoff worksheet

Sending facility: ____________________

Receiving facility: ____________________

Current infection/colonization/test status: ____________________

Current precaution: ____________________

Sending infection-prevention contact: ____________________

Receiving infection-prevention contact: ____________________

Antibiotic/treatment continuing: ____________________

Pending results: ____________________

Required room/equipment: ____________________

Transport notified: Yes / No

Receiving facility confirmed capability: Yes / No

Next review date: ____________________

Frequently asked questions

Can a nursing home refuse someone because of an infection?

Capability, clinical criteria, precautions, room needs, outbreak status, and applicable law all matter. Ask for the specific reason rather than assuming one universal rule.

Does colonization mean the person is sick?

Not necessarily. Colonization and active infection are different clinical concepts. Ask the treating team to explain the resident’s status.

Can family remove precautions once a test is negative?

Do not change precautions independently. The responsible clinical/infection-prevention team should decide and communicate the change.

The practical goal

A resident should not arrive with the receiving team learning the infection status from the family at the front desk.

The sending and receiving teams should share the exact organism/status, precaution, treatment, pending results, and room/transport needs before or with transfer.

This article provides general information and does not diagnose infection or prescribe isolation precautions.

Related NHP guides

Primary sources checked

*Editorial/source review: October 15, 2026. General educational content; confirm individual medical, legal, regulatory, insurance, transportation, and care-transfer questions with the appropriate professionals and organizations.*

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