Changes in Nursing Home PPE Stockpile Requirements Approved by PHHPC
Amendments to the personal protective equipment (PPE) stockpile regulation, approved last week by the Public Health and Health Planning Council (PHHPC), should reduce the amount of inventory that nursing homes are required to maintain. The amendments also include provisions governing off-site storage of PPE stockpiles. The amendments were adopted on an emergency basis and took effect on Jan. 26th. They will remain in effect for 60 days, at which point the Department of Health (DOH) will either seek renewal on an emergency basis or seek adoption on a permanent basis. The new regulation is available here.
Members are encouraged to read the new regulation in its entirety; however, the following are the key changes:
- The amount of each category of PPE continues to be determined based on the same positivity rates as in the prior regulation. However, the positivity rate is now multiplied by the facility's "average census as determined annually by the Department," rather than by certified beds. The product of those two figures continues to be multiplied by the same multipliers as in the previous regulation for each type of PPE.
- The Department is directed to determine each facility's average census annually, by Jan. 1st, and to communicate the determination to each facility. Nursing homes have 90 days from the determination to come into compliance with the required amounts.
- Nursing homes will be considered to possess the required inventory if they maintain it on-site or in an off-site location within New York State.
- The PPE must be accessible within at least 24 hours, and at least a 10-day supply must be maintained on-site.
- Nursing homes may use a vendor to store off-site PPE, provided that the vendor maintains unduplicated, facility-specific stockpiles and the PPE is accessible by the facility 24/7. If the Department finds that a facility has not maintained the required stockpile, it is not a defense that the vendor failed to maintain the required supply.
LeadingAge NY has advocated for over a year for right-sizing of the PPE stockpile requirements. The change in the formula for calculating the required inventory appears to be responsive to our advocacy and is an important step in the right direction. We have sought clarification of the methodology for determining average census and asked when the Department will be notifying facilities of these determinations. We have sought additional changes in the regulation, including clarification on requirements pertaining to reusable PPE and accounting for shelf life in determining PPE requirements. We have also highlighted the absence of Medicaid reimbursement for these new costs.
We will notify members as information regarding new inventory levels becomes available.
Our latest letter to the PHHPC regarding the PPE stockpile regulation is here.
Contact: Karen Lipson, klipson@leadingageny.org