May 26th Newsletter

May 26, 2020

Governor Cuomo Announces Two New Regions Approved for Reopening

Today (May 26th), Governor Cuomo announced that the Mid-Hudson Valley and Long Island have met all seven metrics of the New York Forward plan. The Mid-Hudson region will enter Phase One of reopening today, while Long Island will do so tomorrow. New York City is the last remaining region to reopen, having now met five of the seven metrics.  To support the reopening of New York City, the State will be directing resources to specific communities where new COVID-19 cases are being diagnosed, which are primarily low-income and predominantly minority neighborhoods that have been severely impacted by COVID-19. The Governor also discussed plans to accelerate the State’s infrastructure projects as part of the reopening plan, including construction of the Empire Station at Penn Station and the new LaGuardia Airport. Other projects may follow if federal approval is received.

During press conferences this weekend, the Governor announced that NYS and local governments will provide death benefits for frontline workers who died from COVID-19 during this emergency. The Governor also renewed his call for the federal government to provide hazard pay for essential public workers on the frontlines.

Governor Cuomo Announces Launch of New York Forward Loan Fund

Over the weekend, Governor Cuomo announced the launch of the $100 million New York Forward Loan Fund to provide flexible (non-forgivable) loans to help small businesses that did not receive federal COVID-19 assistance. Loans will focus on minority and women-owned small businesses, not-for-profit organizations, and small landlords that have seen a loss of rental income. Eligible applicants must meet the following requirements:

  • Small businesses and not-for-profits must employ 20 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) employees.
  • Small businesses must have gross revenues of less than $3 million per year.
  • Not-for-profits must provide direct services and have an annual operating budget of less than $3 million per year.
  • Organizations cannot have received a loan from either the SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) for COVID-19 in 2020.

Loans are designed to support businesses and organizations that are in the process of reopening but face upfront expenses related to compliance with requirements, such as inventory, marketing, or refitting for social distancing guidelines. Priority will be given to industries that have already reopened. Thirty percent of funding will be targeted towards the New York City region. Loans must be paid back over a five-year term with interest.

The pre-application for the New York Forward Loan Fund opened today. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis as regions and industries reopen. The Governor’s press release is available here. Additional details are available here and information on applying is available here. 

Governor Cuomo Issues Two New Executive Orders

Over the weekend, Governor Cuomo signed Executive Order 202.32 (available here), which contains the following directives related to COVID-19 testing:

  • Allows clinical laboratories to accept and examine specimens for COVID-19 testing from personnel of nursing homes and adult care facilities without a prescription or order from an authorized ordering source, and to report the results of such tests to the appropriate operators and administrators of the nursing home or adult care facility.
  • Allows physicians to order COVID-19 tests authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for self-collection without otherwise having an initial physician-patient relationship with the patient.

The Order also extends the deadline for paying property taxes without interest or penalties for 21 days and authorizes abatement of interest and penalties for up to 100 days for taxpayers who were required to file returns and remit sales and use taxes by March 20, 2020.

The Governor also signed Executive Order 202.33 (available here), which permits any non-essential gathering of ten or fewer individuals, for any lawful purpose or reason, provided that social distancing protocols and cleaning and disinfection protocols required by the Department of Health (DOH) are adhered to.

Expanding Access to COVID-19 Testing in Pharmacies

On May 22nd, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued a press release (available here) and circular letter (available here) to regulated insurance plans regarding coverage of COVID-19 testing in pharmacies. As per Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order 202.24 (available here), licensed pharmacists are authorized to order and administer COVID-19 diagnostic and antibody tests that have been approved by the FDA. In the press release and circular letter, DFS directs regulated insurance plans to provide in-network and out-of-network coverage for COVID-19 testing at pharmacies without imposing cost-sharing on individuals. This required coverage will support the State’s new pilot program with 52 independent pharmacies to conduct 7,000 COVID-19 tests per week. The Governor’s press release on the pilot program is available here. 

The New York State DOH also released Medicaid fee-for-service (FFS) policy and billing guidance for COVID-19 testing at pharmacies (available here). Medicaid FFS will cover COVID-19 tests authorized by the FDA performed at pharmacies for non-dual eligible members. Testing for dual eligible members will continue to be covered by Medicare. Medicaid managed care plans will be responsible for implementing these services through their own guidance.

DFS Announces Extension on Insurance Producer Licensing Requirements

On May 21st, DFS released an update (available here) to a previously issued circular letter (available here) that suspended the expiration of licenses for all individual producers for 60 days until May 24, 2020 and waived any associated late fees. This update extends the relief for insurance producers for an additional 45 days through July 8th. At the end of this 45-day period, all licenses that would have expired but for this extension will automatically expire unless the producer has submitted a license renewal application, including completion of all necessary continuing education credits. Questions may be submitted to insurance.covid19@dfs.ny.gov.

Updated Guidance Documents

The following New York State and City guidance documents have been recently released: