Relates to establishing requirements for residential health care facilities during a state disaster emergency involving a disease outbreak; requires the department of health to issue guidance regarding precautions and procedures to maintain health and safety; establishes residential healthcare facility reporting requirements.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1080--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 6, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sens. GOUNARDES, MAY -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- commit-
tee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recom-
mitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to establishing
requirements for residential health care facilities during a state
disaster emergency involving a disease outbreak
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 2803 of the public health law is amended by adding
2 two new subdivisions 13 and 14 to read as follows:
3 13. In the event of a state disaster emergency as defined under
4 section twenty of the executive law that involves a disease outbreak,
5 the department shall issue guidance to residential health care facili-
6 ties regarding precautions and procedures to take to protect and main-
7 tain the health and safety of residents and staff during the course of
8 an outbreak, and to prevent widespread transmission of a communicable
9 disease. Such guidance shall include but not be limited to:
10 restrictions on visitation and entry into the facility by non-essential
11 personnel, staff education and training on symptoms and transmission,
12 screening of all staff prior to the commencement of a work shift, daily
13 inventory and reporting to the department of personal protective equip-
14 ment and other supplies, hand hygiene and environmental disinfection,
15 mask use and source control, resident education and monitoring, place-
16 ment of residents with confirmed or suspected infections, notification
17 to the lawful representatives of affected residents of a confirmed or
18 suspected infection, informing and educating the lawful representative
19 of the availability of alternative placement options, including but not
20 limited to home care services authorized under article thirty-six of
21 this chapter, and making available means of communication for residents
22 to communicate with the lawful representative at least once a day, or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03449-05-1
S. 1080--A 2
1 otherwise as is practicable. Upon issuance of such guidance, the depart-
2 ment shall disseminate it to all administrators of residential
3 healthcare facilities and publish it on the department's website no less
4 than forty-eight hours after a state disaster emergency has been
5 declared.
6 14. In the event of a state disaster emergency as defined under
7 section twenty of the executive law that involves a disease outbreak,
8 the department may utilize public health emergency appropriations for
9 the purpose of securing alternative placement options, including but not
10 limited to home care services under article thirty-six of this chapter,
11 for residents of residential health care facilities for the duration of
12 the state disaster emergency.
13 § 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2808-e
14 to read as follows:
15 § 2808-e. Residential health care facility reporting requirements. 1.
16 The commissioner of health shall, in the event of an outbreak of a
17 communicable disease or infection, order all residential health care
18 facilities to report the following information on a daily basis to the
19 department and the local health department in the county in which the
20 facility is based: the number of residents or staff with suspected or
21 confirmed infection of the disease; the number of residents with
22 suspected or confirmed infection resulting in hospitalization or death;
23 and the number of fatalities following hospitalization resulting from
24 suspected or confirmed infection of the disease. The department shall
25 aggregate and publish de-identified data, submitted by residential
26 health care facilities under this section on a weekly basis, in a manner
27 that is consistent with the federal Health Insurance Portability and
28 Accountability Act, as amended, and any regulations promulgated there-
29 under.
30 2. For any residential health care facility that experiences a fatali-
31 ty rate of at least five percent of the resident census as a result of a
32 state disaster emergency that involves a disease outbreak as well as
33 strong indications that the infection rate within the facility is
34 increasing exponentially, or otherwise attributable to a novel pathogen
35 or known pathogen with a high lethality rate, the commissioner shall
36 establish daily communications with such facility to determine and
37 provide, to the extent practicable, all necessary supplies, equipment,
38 personnel and personnel training to ensure the facility is adequately
39 prepared to ensure the health and safety of the residents. If, in the
40 event that the fatality and infection rate remains the same or increases
41 over a fifteen day period from the commissioner's initial contact, due
42 to negligent and willful actions of the established operator, which may
43 include, but not be limited to, a willful failure to comply with proce-
44 dures or utilization of supplies and equipment provided, the commission-
45 er shall appoint a temporary operator, subject to the provisions of
46 section twenty-eight hundred six-a of this article to assume sole
47 control and sole responsibility for the operations of the facility until
48 the residents of the facility (a) may be safely transferred to another
49 residential health care facility or (b) transferred to a community-based
50 setting where home care services are delivered under article thirty-six
51 of this chapter, provided that, such residents qualifying for medical
52 assistance shall be deemed eligible for immediate need under subdivision
53 twelve of section three hundred sixty-six-a of the social services law.
54 If the commissioner has a reasonable belief of imminent harm to the
55 public, the commissioner may initiate receivership subject to section
56 twenty-eight hundred ten of this article.
S. 1080--A 3
1 § 3. Paragraphs (b) and (c) of subdivision 1 of section 2806-a of the
2 public health law, as added by section 50 of part E of chapter 56 of the
3 laws of 2013, are amended to read as follows:
4 (b) "established operator" shall mean the operator of an adult care
5 facility, a general hospital [or], a diagnostic and treatment center
6 that has been established and issued an operating certificate as such
7 pursuant to this article, or a residential health care facility for the
8 purposes of section twenty-eight hundred eight-e of this article;
9 (c) "facility" shall mean (i) a general hospital or a diagnostic and
10 treatment center that has been issued an operating certificate as such
11 pursuant to this article; [or] (ii) an adult care facility; or (iii) a
12 residential health care facility for the purposes of section twenty-
13 eight hundred eight-e of this article;
14 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately; provided however that the
15 amendments made to section 2806-a of the public health law made by
16 section three of this act shall not affect the repeal of such section
17 and shall be deemed repealed therewith.
