Bill Text: NY S08996 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Requires the health department to submit a plan to establish regional step-down facilities to temporarily care for individuals who have been discharged from a hospital after receiving treatment for COVID-19, or any other sickness related to a pandemic, to a nursing home, adult care facility or assisted living residence where such individual resides until it is safe for them to return.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-09-23 - REFERRED TO RULES [S08996 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S08996-Introduced.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8996

                    IN SENATE

                                   September 23, 2020
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  SERINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules

        AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to the  emergency  or
          disaster treatment preparedness act

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding  a  new  article
     2  30-E to read as follows:
     3                                ARTICLE 30-E
     4              EMERGENCY OR DISASTER TREATMENT PREPAREDNESS ACT
     5  Section 3090. Declaration of purpose.
     6          3091. Definitions.
     7          3092. Regional Step-Down Facility Plan.
     8    §  3090.  Declaration  of purpose. Given the devastating toll COVID-19
     9  has taken on New York  state,  especially  in  nursing  homes,  assisted
    10  living  facilities,  and  adult  care  facilities,  and concerns about a
    11  second wave of the virus, or of future pandemics, it is  essential  that
    12  the  state  is  better  prepared  to  handle  a future crisis. It is the
    13  purpose of this article to ensure precautions are taken to  prevent  the
    14  repeated  mistake  of  returning  COVID-19  positive patients to nursing
    15  homes, assisted living facilities and adult care  facilities  where  the
    16  population is comprised of high-risk individuals.
    17    § 3091. Definitions. As used in this article:
    18    1.  The  term  "hospital"  shall have the same meaning as such term is
    19  defined in subdivision one of section twenty-eight hundred one  of  this
    20  chapter and shall include any temporary health care facility established
    21  by  the state or federal government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
    22  or any other pandemic related response.
    23    2. The term "nursing home" shall have the same meaning as such term is
    24  defined in subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred one  of  this
    25  chapter.
    26    3.  The term "adult care facility" shall have the same meaning as such
    27  term is defined in subdivision twenty-one of section two of  the  social
    28  services law.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD17342-01-0

        S. 8996                             2

     1    4. The term "assisted living residence" shall have the same meaning as
     2  such  term  is  defined  in subdivision one of section forty-six hundred
     3  fifty-one of article forty-six-b of this chapter.
     4    5.  The  term  "step-down facility" shall mean a facility specifically
     5  established to temporarily care for individuals who have been discharged
     6  from a hospital after receiving treatment for  COVID-19,  or  any  other
     7  sickness  related  to a pandemic, to a nursing home, adult care facility
     8  or assisted living residence where such individual resides until  it  is
     9  safe  for  them  to  return, for the purpose of preventing the spread of
    10  COVID-19 or any other sickness related to a pandemic.  Step-down facili-
    11  ties may also admit individuals from a nursing home, adult care facility
    12  or assisted living residence who have tested positive for  COVID-19,  or
    13  any  other  sickness related to a pandemic, or are suspected to be posi-
    14  tive for such, who did not receive treatment or who were  otherwise  not
    15  admitted and subsequently discharged from a hospital.
    16    §  3092.  Regional  Step-Down  Facility  Plan.  1.  The department, in
    17  consultation with organizations representing  hospitals, nursing  homes,
    18  adult  care  facilities  and assisted living residences, shall develop a
    19  plan to establish regional step-down facilities to reduce  the  risk  of
    20  transmission  of  COVID-19  or  any other sickness related to a pandemic
    21  within nursing homes, adult care facilities  or  assisted  living  resi-
    22  dences,  particularly after an individual who has received treatment for
    23  COVID-19 or any other sickness related to a pandemic has been discharged
    24  from a hospital and would otherwise return to a nursing home, adult care
    25  facility or assisted living residence while still contagious. Such  plan
    26  will  account  for a possible resurgence of the COVID-19 infection rate,
    27  or the emergence of any other sickness related to a pandemic.
    28    2. The commissioner shall submit such plan to the governor, the tempo-
    29  rary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the  minority
    30  leader of the senate, and the minority leader of the assembly, and shall
    31  post  such plan publicly on the department's website no later than Octo-
    32  ber fifteenth, two thousand twenty.
    33    3. The commissioner shall review and  update  the  regional  step-down
    34  facility  plan biennially, or more frequently if the commissioner deter-
    35  mines it necessary, and shall post such updated  plan  publicly  on  the
    36  department's website no later than October fifteenth of such year.
    37    §  2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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