DOH Issues Guidance on PPE

On Aug. 31, 2020, the Department of Health (DOH) issued Dear Administrator Letter (DAL) 20-11 reminding nursing homes of the requirement to maintain an adequate supply of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Per the DAL:

10 NYCRR 415.19(f) states that the facility shall possess and maintain a supply of all necessary items of personal protective equipment (PPE) sufficient to protect health care personnel, consistent with federal Centers for Disease Control guidance, for at least 30 days by August 31, 2020, and at least 60 days by September 30, 2020, at rate of usage equal the average daily rate that PPE was used between April 19, 2020 and April 27, 2020.

The regulation allows the Department to grant an extension of the deadline to October 30, 2020, at its sole and exclusive discretion where the nursing home demonstrates, to the Commissioner’s satisfaction, that:

A. the nursing homes inability to meet this deadline is solely attributable to supply chain issues that are beyond the nursing home’s control and purchasing PPE at market rates would facilitate price gouging by PPE vendors; or

B. the seven-day rolling average of new COVID-19 infections in New York State remains below one and a half percent (1.5%) of the total seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 tests performed over the same period; and there are ten or less states in the United States that have a seven-day rolling average of new COVID-19 infections exceeding five thousand cases.

Some facilities have indicated that they may need additional time to determine whether they want to ask for an extension. Should your facility need additional time to consider filing for an extension, please email this request to the nursing homes division at covidnursinghomeinfo@health.ny.gov. The Department will consider these requests until September 14, 2020.

Contact: Elliott Frost, efrost@leadingageny.org, 518-441-8761