On March 18, 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation making changes to Public Health Law 2803-aa (“PHL 2803-aa”) which NY State enacted in December 2021. PHL 2803-aa requires the Department of Health (“DOH”) to conduct annual infection control competency audits in nursing homes.
The revised legislation:
- Pushes the start date for the DOH audits back to December 1, 2022;
- Aligns the DOH audit criteria standards with focused infection control survey standards issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and requires DOH to develop a checklist;
- Requires nursing homes to meet every metric on the checklist in order to be considered in compliance;
- Adds staffing and cohorting requirements to the Infection Control Plan;
- Requires DOH to conduct re-audits of nursing homes not in full compliance every 90 days until the nursing home achieves full compliance, and allows DOH to pursue administrative penalties, including the issuance of citations for non-compliance and the imposition of civil monetary penalties;
- Retains the requirement that nursing homes designate a staff member to assess the proper use of Personal Protective Equipment, but eliminates the requirement that such a designation be made for every shift, now permitting that responsibility to be shared among additional designated staff members.
CMS’ latest memorandum regarding its Focused Infection Control Survey Tool for Acute and Continuing Care Providers and Suppliers (QSO-21-08-NLTC, revised 02/04/2022) may be accessed here: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-21-08-nltc-revised.pdf
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Should you have any questions regarding the above, please contact the Garfunkel Wild attorney with whom you regularly work, or contact us at [email protected].