Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order 202.48
On July 6th, Governor Cuomo signed Executive Order 202.48 (available here), which extends most of the provisions contained in Executive Orders 202 through 202.14 until August 5th. The extended provisions include waivers that permit the State to establish additional telehealth provider categories and modalities and that allow for a wide range of provider flexibilities. Additional details on the extended provisions are available in SPG’s Waiver Timeline Tracker (available here). All provisions of the listed Executive Orders are extended, except for the following:
- Section 33.17 of the Mental Hygiene Law and associated regulations allowing providers to use staff members to transport individuals receiving services from the Office of Mental Health (OMH) or a program/provider under OMH jurisdiction.
- Section 390-b of the Social Services Law and regulations at sections 413.4 and 415.15 of Title 18 of the NYCRR related to criminal background checks for child care providers.
- Sections 3216(d)(1)(c) and 4306 (g) of the Insurance Law, and any associated regulatory authority provided by directive in Executive Order 202.14 that extended the period for premium payments for any comprehensive health insurance policyholder or contract holder who faced financial hardship as a result of COVID-19, required insurers or health maintenance organizations to be responsible for payment of claims during the premium payment extension period, and prohibited insurers from retroactively terminating an insurance policy or contract for non-payment during this period.
- The directive contained in Executive Order 202.10 (amended by Executive Order 202.11) related to restrictions on dispensing hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine given recent findings and the Food and Drug Administration’s revocation of the emergency use authorization, which has alleviated supply shortages for permitted uses of these medications.
DOH Releases Report on COVID-19 Issues in Nursing Homes
On July 6th, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) released a report (available here) that evaluates the factors associated with nursing home infections and fatalities in New York State during the COVID-19 pandemic. The DOH analysis found:
- The timing of staff infections correlates with the timing of peak nursing home resident mortality across the state.
- Nursing home employee infections were related to the most impacted regions in the state.
- Peak nursing home admissions occurred a week after peak nursing home mortality, indicating that nursing home admissions from hospitals were not a driver of nursing home infections or fatalities.
- Most patients admitted to nursing homes from hospitals were no longer contagious when admitted and therefore were not a source of infection.
- Nursing home quality (based on existing measures such as star ratings) was not a factor in nursing home fatalities.
DOH Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker held a press conference to announce DOH’s conclusion that New York nursing home residents primarily contracted COVID-19 from staff members and, presumably, from visitors. Since there was no tracking or testing of visitors prior to the suspension of visitation on March 13th, the latter conclusion is inferred from the estimated prevalence of COVID-19 in the State at the time, rather than from testing evidence.
The DOH press release and a recording of Dr. Zucker’s remarks are available here.
Updated Guidance Documents
Recently released New York State and City guidance documents are listed below: