The emergency regulation requiring hospitals and nursing homes to maintain a 60 day supply of PPE expired September 26, 2023. DOH has indicated its intent to make the regulations permanent and the Public Health and Health Planning Council (PHHPC) published notice of a 60-day comment period in the state register on Nov 15, 2023.
DOH distributed DALs to hospital CEOs and nursing home administrators on September 25, 2023 in which it “strongly advises” that a 60-day PPE stockpile be maintained as set forth in the expiring regulations until such time as the regulation may be permanently adopted.
The DAL further states that DOH may assess whether hospitals maintain sufficient PPE supplies upon survey and that stockpiles must be consistent with the facility’s emergency preparedness plans and bel adequate to protect staff and patients in the event of a communicable disease outbreak.
The regulation setting forth minimum hospital and nursing home PPE requirements was first adopted July 20, 2020. The regulation required hospitals to maintain a 90 day supply of necessary PPE based on a hospital-specific benchmark of usage from April 13-27, 2020.
A revised regulation adopted July 29, 2021 reduced the stockpile requirement from a 90-day to 60-day supply and established a new methodology (see below) for determining the amount of PPE to be maintained.
The revised emergency regulations and the proposed permanent regulations give the Commissioner the authority to increase the requirement from 60 days to 90 days where there is a state or local public health emergency.
The proposed permanent regulation also retains the enforcement provisions which include revocation, limitation, or suspension of the facility’s license. A 14 day grace period may be provided for a first violation.
The methodologies below for hospitals and nursing homes has remained in effect through the recently expired emergency regulation and remain the same in the proposed permanent regulation that is open for comment.
Hospital 60-day PPE Stockpile Methodology
- Single gloves – 15% x staffed beds x 550,
- Gowns – 15% x staffed beds x 41,
- Surgical masks – 15% x staffed beds x 21,
- N95 respirators – 15% x staffed beds x 9.6
Nursing Home 60-day PPE Stockpile Methodology
- Single gloves – Positivity Rate x Avg Census x 24
- Gowns – Positivity Rate x Avg Census x 3
- Surgical masks – Positivity Rate x Avg Census x 1.5
- N95s – Positivity Rate x Avg Census x 1.4
Hospitals and nursing homes may store PPE off-site under the conditions below:
- stored in off-site location within NYS
- accessible within 24 hours
- hospital maintains at least a 10- day supply on-site
- vendor maintains unduplicated, facility-specific stockpile
Surge & Flex Coordination System and Minimum PPE Requirement Regulations