Staffing, PPE, and Technical Assistance Resources for NYC Members

New York City (NYC) members are reminded of some resources that are available:

NYC Long Term Care Providers Urged to Enroll in Surge Staffing GPO

NYC Emergency Management and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) have established a surge staffing group purchasing organization (GPO) to support health care providers to prepare for future staffing shortages during the pandemic. The City is encouraging nursing homes, adult care facilities (ACFs), and home care agencies delivering services to city residents to enter into GPO contracts now, even if they are not currently experiencing staffing challenges. By establishing contracts, facilities will lock in pre-set rates and be prepared to utilize the agencies in the event they experience shortages. More information is available here. Organizations are encouraged to contact the participating GPO staffing agencies as soon as possible, as contracts would need to be completed before a potential staffing shortage.

NYC PPE Stockpile

NYC providers should have received information (including Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documents) and login details about the PPE Stockpile, which is being managed by Medline. If you have questions about the PPE and Ventilator Stockpiles, please contact ppesupport@health.nyc.gov or call the DOHMH Provider Access Line at 866-692-3641. As a reminder, you are encouraged to order the PPE that you need as COVID-19 citywide transmission increases and you begin seeing an uptick of patients or residents with COVID-19 or COVID-19-like-illness. You are encouraged to test out your login to the NYC PPE Service Center now and familiarize yourself with Medline.com in preparation for when you need to place your first order.

Surge Staffing Technical Assistance Program for Nursing Homes

During the initial COVID-19 pandemic wave, despite the availability of volunteers and City-supported paid staff, nursing homes had many challenges with onboarding surge staff in an efficient and timely manner. As the pandemic continues to affect us, NYC DOHMH invites you to participate in a unique emergency management initiative known as the Emergency Surge Staffing Technical Assistance (TA) Program. The goal of the TA program is to enable the city’s nursing homes to maintain adequate staffing in the event of staff shortages due to illness or increased staffing needs resulting from medical surge.

This program consists of a new planning tool, the Pandemic Surge Staffing Functional Annex, which was recently sent to all NYC nursing homes by NYC DOHMH; a webinar workshop that will introduce the Annex; and a virtual TA session that will assist facilities in customizing the Annex to meet their specific circumstances. This Annex is a tool created to assist facilities in best preparing for and mitigating the demand on staff due to a medical surge, as experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in early 2020.

The Surge Staffing Virtual Workshop webinar was held last week and was recorded. The TA program is available to all facilities, regardless of whether they participated in the webinar. To register for the TA program, which starts this week and will continue through early February, facilities should send an email to SurgeStaffing@IMScommand.com identifying themselves and requesting participation. They will receive a call back within 72 hours, and a scheduled timeslot for the TA session will be arranged (on a first-come, first-served basis).

Contact: Diane Darbyshire, ddarbyshire@leadingageny.org, or Karen Lipson, klipson@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8383