Governor Cuomo Sees Continued Progress in COVID-19 Outbreak
Today (June 12th), Governor Cuomo held a press conference during which he announced that new cases of COVID-19 continue to decline or hold steady in most areas in New York. Effective today, five regions are entering Phase 3 of the NY Forward reopening process, which allows food services (including restaurants) and personal care services to recommence. These regions include Central New York, the Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley, the North Country, and the Southern Tier. However, the Governor emphasized that other states are seeing increases in the number of COVID-19 cases after reopening, so the State will continue to monitor the status of the outbreak closely.
On June 11th, the Governor accepted the recommendations in the report of the COVID-19 Domestic Violence Task Force (available here), led by Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa. The recommendations include supporting increased mobile and virtual advocacy options, offering more flexibility in funding to programs that support survivors, and issuing guidance for domestic violence screening and response during telehealth visits.
Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order 202.40
On June 10th, Governor Cuomo issued Executive Order 202.40 (available here), which reduces the requirement in Executive Order 202.30 for nursing homes to test all personnel in regions that have reached Phase 2 of the reopening process (currently all regions except New York City). For nursing homes in such areas, testing of all staff is now only required once per week. This requirement is continued until July 9th.
Extension of DFS Cost-Sharing Waivers and Scheduled Expiration of Other Waivers
On June 11th, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) republished emergency regulations initially published March 16th which require plans to waive cost-sharing for COVID-19 testing (available here) and telehealth (available here). These regulations now automatically expire September 9th.
Several months into the COVID-19 crisis, other waivers and regulatory flexibilities are approaching their originally scheduled expiration dates. Many of these waivers may be renewed. For reference, below are the currently scheduled expiration dates for various emergency directives:
- Requirements established by the DFS in Circular Letter No. 8 and its Supplement, suspending various utilization review requirements and requiring expedited payment of hospital claims, are scheduled to expire on June 18th next week.
- Waivers not already ended that are contained in Executive Orders 202.1 through 202.14, including waivers allowing practitioners licensed in another state to practice without a New York license, modifications of the definitions of telehealth in Medicaid, and many other provisions, have been extended through July 6th. These orders are expected to be renewed on a rolling 30-day basis through the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
- Waivers not already ended that are contained in Executive Orders 202.15 through 202.21, including waivers allowing practitioners licensed in Canada to practice a New York license, waivers allowing recent graduates to practice immediately, and many other provisions, without have been extended through July 7th.
- DFS Circular Letter No. 9, which suspended the expiration of licenses for insurance producers, is scheduled to expire on July 8th.
- The federal COVID-19 public health emergency is currently scheduled to automatically expire July 25th. Most federal waivers, including blanket waivers of Stark laws, HIPAA enforcement discretion, and CMS site flexibilities, would expire concurrently if the emergency is not renewed. It was last renewed on April 21st, five days before its first scheduled automatic expiration.
Updated Guidance Documents
On June 11th, the Office of Mental Health updated its COVID-19 Disaster Emergency FAQs (available here). Changes include the removal of previous information on Medicare billing for dual eligible individuals, as well as new information regarding:
- Residential services (such as restraint training requirements and billing for children “home time leave”);
- Implementation of staff background check waivers;
- Telemental health implementation (such as using text or chat in telemental health services); and
- BH HCBS authorizations and billing;
- Continuing day treatment and partial hospitalization program operations; and
- Personalized Recovery Oriented Services (PROS) services.
On June 10th, CMS released COVID-19 FAQs for Non-Long Term Care Facilities and ICF/IIDs (available here). Other than ICFs, provider types covered include ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals, hospices, and Rural Health Centers/Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs).