Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order 202.49
Today (July 8th), Governor Cuomo signed Executive Order 202.49 (available here), which extends most of the provisions contained in Executive Orders 202.15-202.21 and Executive Order 202.29 through August 6th. These extended provisions allow for a wide range of provider flexibilities, as outlined in detail in SPG’s Waiver Timeline Tracker (available here). The provisions not extended relate to environmental conservation, religious corporations, real property law, and funeral/cemetery requirements.
New York City Approves Reopening of Child Care Centers, Releases Plan for Schools this Fall
On July 7th, New York City’s Board of Health unanimously voted to approve the reopening of 3,000 day care centers as the City progresses with reopening and more parents are returning to work. The City mandated that day care centers temporarily close on April 6th due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In accordance with this vote, day care centers will have the option to reopen as early as July 13th but will not be required to do so. New York City has released a checklist (available here) and FAQ document (available here) for child care programs as they prepare for reopening.
Additionally, the New York City Department of Education announced today that public schools will reopen via “blended learning,” in which students will be taught on-site in school for part of the week and will learn remotely on the other days of the week. Families will have the option to choose all-remote learning. Other safety precautions will include face coverings in almost all cases, increased handwashing and sanitizing, and nightly deep cleanings.
Additional information on the City’s return to school plan is available here. This update from the City comes during a debate over guidelines for reopening schools at the federal level, with President Trump criticizing the guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as “expensive” and “impractical” and threatening to cut off federal funding if schools do not reopen. Vice President Mike Pence has said that the CDC will be issuing new guidance documents next week.
Updated Guidance Documents
Recently released New York City guidance documents are listed below:
FAIR Health Tracker Explores Telehealth Claims Increase During April 2020
On July 7th, FAIR Health released data from the organization’s Monthly Regional Telehealth Tracker that compared April 2019 and April 2020 telehealth claims in the privately insured population. Major findings include, but are not limited to:
- Telehealth claims lines increased 8,336% nationally;
- In the Northeast region, telehealth claims increased 26,209% from .07% of medical claim lines in April 2019 to 19.69% percent in April 2020; and
- Mental health conditions remained the top diagnosis category nationwide, though declined in prevalence—in the Northeast it dropped from 40% to 35% of telehealth claims.
FAIR Health’s Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker is available here.