By: Howard Weinstein
The New York State Senate is set to pass a set of bills aimed at reforming the nursing home industry and how the state oversees it, CBS reported.
Democrats in the state Senate have 10 bills intended which they claim improve accountability and transparency at nursing homes. as the federal government investigates the Cuomo administration’s handling of COVID-19 in these facilities.
It was reported by Spectrum News Last week that while Senate Democrats discussed a bill that would establish a ten-person commission made up of mostly Democrats that would have control over the governor’s executive orders as a way to limit his emergency powers, many Dems in the Assembly oppose the idea.
Senate Republicans have introduced an amendment to revoke the governor’s emergency powers 14 times and each time it has been voted down.
One of the Senate bills which did advance, mandates the state report long-term care residents who die in hospitals as nursing home deaths, while another looks to establish a mandatory staff-to-patient ratio.
Department of Health Death Records: This bill, S.3061A sponsored by Senator Gustavo Rivera, requires the Department of Health to record COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents that died in hospitals to be recorded as a “nursing home” death and require the Department of Health to update and share data it receives with hospitals and nursing homes on communicable diseases.
Also, among the 10 bills are one’s which reimagines Long-Term Care Task Force, long-Term Care Ombudsman Program Reform Act, Requirements for Transfer, Discharge and Voluntary Discharge, and one bill which aimed Transparency of Violations.
The NY Post reported:
“Ensuring that nursing homes are safe is a priority,” said a spokesman for state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-The Bronx). “We will be discussing these and other issues with our members.”
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said that the governor and the state legislature want the same thing, and that the administration was open to considering other reforms.
“We all share the same goal of reforming these facilities and fixing the inequities laid bare by this pandemic, which is why the governor laid out a legislative package in the 30-day amendments and said he wouldn’t sign a budget without them,” he said. “To the extent there are other ideas we’re open to reviewing them.”
