Proposed Amendments to Prevention of Influenza Transmission Regulation

Amendments to Section 2.59 of Title 10 NYCRR, Prevention of Influenza Transmission by Healthcare and Residential Facility and Agency Personnel, have been proposed by the State Department of Health (DOH). The changes proposed are modest, but are reflective of some the input that Leading Age NY had previously received from our members. For example, the amendments permit personnel who are required to wear a mask and who provide speech therapy services to "remove the mask when necessary to deliver care such as modeling speech." They also permit  personnel required to wear a mask to remove it, when necessary for communication with individuals who lip read.The proposed amendments would:

• Revise the areas where personnel are required to wear masks from “areas where patients or residents may be present” to “areas where patients or residents are typically present;”
• Define “patient or resident” to mean any person receiving services from a covered facility or agency, as well as any person presenting for registration or admission at covered facility or agency;
• Define “influenza vaccine” to mean a vaccine approved as an influenza vaccine by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or pursuant to an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), or as an Emergency Investigational New Drug (EIND);
• Provide that unvaccinated healthcare personnel are not required to wear a mask while a patient or resident is receiving services outside the home or regulated facility;
• Provide that unvaccinated healthcare personnel are not required to wear a mask while providing speech therapy services, during the time that such personnel are providing care;
• Allow for any unvaccinated personnel, or the patient they are serving, who lip reads to remove the mask when necessary to communicate;
• Revise the documentation requirements for vaccination status to include only the date of vaccination and information specifying the vaccine formulation administered on a document prepared by the healthcare practitioner who administered the vaccine;
• For contract staff and students, allow covered facilities and agencies to accept an attestation from the employer or school, stating that specified persons have been vaccinated and that the employer or school maintains the required documentation;
• Codify requirement that healthcare and residential facilities and agencies must supply surgical or procedure masks required at no cost to personnel; and
• Clarify that covered facilities and agencies can adopt more stringent requirements than the requirements contained in this regulation.

The proposed rule is available by clicking here and referencing page 36-38.

Comments are being accepted directly by DOH until 9/15/2014 or members may provide comments to Leading Age NY who will submit all comments on behalf of members.

Contact:  Elliott Frost, efrost@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8832