Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order 202.69
On October 14th, Governor Cuomo signed Executive Order 202.69 (available here), which extends the following provisions through November 13th:
- Authorizes the Commissioner of Health to suspend or revoke the operating certificate of any skilled nursing facility or adult care facility if that facility has not complied with regulations or directives from DOH.
- Authorizes licensed pharmacists to order tests to detect SARS-CoV-2 or its antibodies, and to administer COVID-19 tests after completion of appropriate DOH training.
- Permits licensed pharmacists to be designated as a qualified health care professional for the purpose of directing a clinical service laboratory to test patients for COVID-19 or its antibodies.
- Allows physicians to order COVID-19 tests for self-collection, without otherwise having an initial physician-patient relationship with the patient.
- 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.
The Order also extends a provision stipulating that an employee may not be entitled to legally required paid benefits if they voluntarily travel to a state or country with significant community spread of CoVID-19.
The Order contains the following new directives:
- Modifies a previous provision allowing nurses and other authorized personnel to collect throat or nasopharyngeal swab specimens for the purposes of testing for COVID-19 to also include saliva swab specimens.
- Authorizes the State to withhold funding for public or non-public schools or school districts and/or localities who are in violation of the provisions set forth as part of the cluster action initiative plan that restricts activities based on “hotspot” zone designation outlined in Executive Order 202.68 (available here). Such provisions include enforcing gathering limits and complying with school closure and testing rules.
Governor Cuomo Announces Availability of COVID-19 Rapid Testing Kits
On October 9th, Governor Cuomo announced that New York State will be distributing 400,000 rapid testing kits to local health departments, hospitals, pharmacies, and other health care providers statewide. Counties with recent outbreaks of COVID-19 will receive priority for rapid testing kits to support surveillance testing and help schools in “yellow zones” test students and staff in accordance with recent State requirements. The New York State Department of Health (DOH) has issued a letter to local health departments and health care providers with details on how to access and receive rapid testing kits.
The Governor’s press release is available here.
CMS Expands Medicare FFS Telehealth Services During the COVID-19 PHE
On October 14th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expanded the list of telehealth services that Medicare will pay for (in the traditional fee-for-service (FFS) program) during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE). CMS added 11 new telehealth services, which include certain neurostimulator analysis and programming services, and cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation services.
The current list of Medicare FFS telehealth services are available here.
KFF Analyzes Health Insurer Financial Performance During COVID-19 Pandemic
On October 12th, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released an analysis of the financial performance of health insurers during the COVID-19 pandemic. KFF analyzed financial data reported by insurance companies to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners from 2013 to 2020 to examine how insurance markets performed through the first half of 2020. Highlights from the report include the following:
- Health insurers in most markets have been more profitable during the pandemic, led by Medicare Advantage (MA) and group health plans.
- Unlike MA and group health plans, average gross margins and medical loss ratios (MLR) among individual market insurers have generally remained flat through the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same time last year.
- If these patterns continue, Affordable Care Act MLR rebates are likely to be much larger across commercial markets in 2021.
- KFF attributes the increased profitability to lower utilization among enrollees, who may have delayed or opted out of care due to social distancing restrictions, cancellations of elective procedures, and general fears of contracting COVID-19.
The report is available here.
Updated Guidance Documents
The following New York City and State guidance documents have been recently released or revised:
- The NYS COVID-19 School Report Card: An Update for BOCES Schools (10.14.20)
- 2020 Health Alert #38: COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing and Screening Recommendations for People Who Live or Work in New York City (10.14.20)
- COVID-19 Updates: Flu Season During COVID-19 (10.13.20)
- Guidance for School Administrators Regarding Limited Temporary Enforcement of Student Immunization Requirement (10.12.20)
- Interim Guidance on Mandatory COVID-19 Testing in Public and Non-Public Schools Located in Areas Designated as “Yellow Zones” (10.9.20)
- Interim Guidance for Quarantine Restrictions on Travelers Arriving in New York State Following Out of State Travel (10.8.20)