Health Care Workforce EO Scheduled to Expire Next Week
Executive Order (EO) 4, which declares a statewide disaster emergency due to health care staffing shortages, is scheduled to expire next week, on May 22nd. The EO has been extended monthly since its inception, but the Governor’s plan for the EO as the May deadline approaches is unknown at this time.
The EO allows for several flexibilities to accommodate the long term care workforce, including utilization of recent nursing graduates and out-of-state nurses in facilities and the use of unlicensed staff for collection of COVID-19 tests.
LeadingAge NY continues to advocate for continuation of the order as providers face significant staffing challenges. In addition, we continue to call on the Department of Health (DOH) to eliminate or reduce Health Emergency Response Data System (HERDS) reporting and relax state COVID-19 guidance across provider types, and continue to request clarification on the provision of Medicaid telehealth past the end of the federal Public Health Emergency (PHE).
For an overview of EOs 4 and 4.1, please see the links in this Intelligence article.