State Updates
Governor Cuomo Announces NYC Phase One Reopening, Additional Regions Entering Phase Two
Today (June 8th), Governor Cuomo held a press conference during which he announced continued declines in the COVID-19 outbreak in New York State. Of the 58,054 COVID-19 tests conducted yesterday, 702 (1.2%) were positive for the virus. As planned, New York City today became the last remaining region to enter the State’s “Phase One” of reopening. Elective surgeries and ambulatory care will also be permitted to resume in New York City, although 19 hospitals had already received waivers as of June 5th.
The State intends to collect the results of 35,000 tests per day in New York City to closely monitor the reopening process. In partnership with Northwell Health and SOMOS, the State today opened 14 new temporary testing sites at churches in impacted communities across the City. Additionally, 15 sites across the five boroughs will prioritize testing individuals who have participated in recent protests.
Tomorrow, the Mid-Hudson region is expected to enter Phase Two of reopening, which includes reopening office-based work, and Long Island is expected to do so on Wednesday.
Over the weekend, Governor Cuomo signed S.8189/A.10270 which updates New York’s anti-price gouging law to include medical supplies and services as well as goods and services used to promote public health. The Governor’s press release is available here. The Governor also announced that medical schools statewide will be permitted to reopen on June 22nd in order to safely prepare for and welcome new cohorts of medical students during the summer and fall.
Governor Cuomo Issues Three New Executive Orders
Over the weekend, Governor Cuomo signed three Executive Orders containing new provisions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Executive Order 202.37 (available here) permits special education services and instruction to be provided in-person for the summer term in accordance with state and federal guidance.
Executive Order 202.38 (available here) extends Executive Orders 202-202.14 until July 6th. As covered previously, these provisions include major waivers such as the ability for practitioners licensed out of state to practice in New York and the waiver of Section 2999-cc of the Public Health Law to State agencies to permit additional telehealth provider categories and modalities, other types of practitioners to deliver services within their scopes of practice, and the use of certain technologies for the delivery of health care services to established patients. The Order also allows commercial building owners, retail store owners, and those authorized on their behalf to require individuals to undergo temperature checks prior to being admitted. Such entities will have the discretion to deny admittance to any individual who refuses to undergo a temperature check or to any individual whose temperature is above the number proscribed in New York State Department of Health (DOH) guidelines. For regions that have entered Phase Two of reopening, the Order also allows restaurants and bars to serve food or beverages in outdoor spaces and permits non-essential gatherings in houses of worship at no greater than 25% of indoor capacity.
Executive Order 202.39 (available here) extends Executive Orders 202.15-202.21 until July 7th and includes several provisions related to absentee ballots and requirements for school districts. The Order also allows local governments in regions that have entered Phase Two to allow non-essential employees to return to work beginning two weeks after the region meets the Phase Two reopening metrics.
OMH Updates Guidance Documents
Over the weekend, the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) announced a temporary amendment (available here) to OMH 14 NYCRR Part 524 deadlines. Effective June 4th, OMH is temporarily extending the 45-day deadline for submission of investigative findings for Allegations of Abuse or Neglect and Significant Incidents and convening of Incident Review Committee (IRC) meetings by an additional 15 days, giving providers a total of 60 days to meet these requirements. The temporary amendment will expire on July 31st, unless otherwise extended or terminated beforehand.
OMH also released updated guidance (available here) on treatment planning and documentation standards for Article 28/31 hospital psychiatry providers during the COVID-19 emergency. The guidance indicates that the following flexibilities will remain in effect indefinitely for inpatient treatment programming:
- Hospital mental health programs should follow their hospital-wide policies regarding visitors.
- Programs should cancel all therapeutic, rehabilitative, and recreational groups that do not align with physical distancing and other mitigation recommendations.
- During individual sessions, if in-person, clinicians and patients should remain six feet apart.
- Patients should be allowed to remain in their rooms during the day and should not be asked to remain in shared settings. Programs should maximize the space patients can occupy while on the unit.
- Programs should continue to provide and even increase, where feasible, time for outside activities. Patients should be reminded to maintain at least six feet of distance from all other individuals while outside.
Other regulations, including the use of telemental health for Article 9 removals in lieu of face-to-face evaluations or examinations, the ability for licensed nurse practitioners or physician assistants to fulfill restraint and seclusion examination requirements, and the use of telemental health to support routine treatment planning on hospital mental health units remain in effect. OMH is assessing the feasibility of preserving some or all of these standards after the COVID-19 emergency and further guidance is forthcoming.
However, previous COVID-19 emergency guidance on documentation standards and discharge planning is rescinded. Hospital providers should resume adherence to all relevant documentation and discharge planning standards effective today.
Federal Updates
White House Releases Testing Blueprint Addendum
Last week, the White House, alongside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), released a document titled “Addendum to the Testing Blueprint.” The document provides additional guidance for COVID-19 testing, focusing on diagnoses of active infections in individuals (including the use of “pooled testing” techniques to reduce the consumption of scarce testing supplies), using testing for proactive surveillance, and developing new approaches to support the reopening of colleges and universities.
The addendum is available here.
HHS Provides New COVID-19 Testing Guidance for Laboratories
On June 4th, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced guidance that specifies additional data that must be reported to HHS by laboratories along with COVID-19 test results. The additional data, which includes demographic information such as race, ethnicity, age, and sex, is intended to aid in epidemiologic investigations, contact tracing, and efficient use of resources. The guidance also provides standardized reporting, transmission, and submission requirements.
The reporting guidance is available here.