New York nursing homes must report infections quickly under new law

ALBANY — Nursing home residents and their families must be notified within 12 hours of detection of a potentially deadly infection in the facilities under a bill signed into law Wednesday.

The law requires nursing homes to bolster plans to accommodate residents who are infected or exposed to infection in quarters separate from uninfected residents.

The bill also requires a plan to stop the spread of infection.

The measure sponsored by State Sen. James Skoufis (D-Cornwall) and Assemb. Jennifer Lunsford (D-Perinton) is expected to become effective by mid-February.

"With this legislation, we will ensure every facility is prepared to protect residents from exposure after an infection is detected, while also improving communication to make sure residents and family members are notified of the situation in a timely manner,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul, who signed the bill.

A key element of the law will require a separate area for residents who are suspected of being infected or infectious and creation of an infectious disease care unit.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many nursing homes didn’t have wings or sections they could devote to patients with the coronavirus, although many facilities have since created separate areas for that purpose.

The law contains no penalties for violations, but the state’s inspection process routinely issues penalties for failure to comply with regulations.

Gross noncompliance with regulations can result in the loss of state licenses to operate the homes.

The bill was prompted by criticism of the state’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic under former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

State legislators accused Cuomo of failing to adequately protect nursing home residents.

In 2020, Cuomo issued guidance to nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients from hospitals for recovery at a time when hospitals were experiencing a significant bed shortage.

Cuomo also received criticism for mixing statistics about deaths of nursing home residents in hospitals with counts of all hospital deaths.

That lowered the reported death total in nursing homes even as the virus spread through such facilities.

Cuomo argued at the time that the number of total deaths was always accurate, but that it took additional time to determine which deaths in hospitals involved nursing home residents.

That caused a delay during the height of the state emergency in reporting nursing homes deaths.

Families of nursing home residents told Newsday they couldn’t determine the level of COVID-19 in facilities that cared for their loved ones or even the health condition of their relatives, sometimes for days.

“This legislation will ensure these facilities are prepared when future infection threats arise, and will empower families of our ill and elderly to make informed decisions about their care," Skoufis said in a statement.

"We must never allow our residential care facilities to be so blindsided again," he said.

Lunsford said transparency and accountability are needed so the nursing home industry and the state aren’t again caught unprepared for threats to nursing home residents,

"When COVID hit, residents of nursing homes and their loved ones were left flat-footed,” Lunsford said. “Nursing homes found themselves unprepared for the public health emergency, and residents and loved ones were left in the dark … "

A spokesman for an association of nursing home operators didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.