No New York nursing home has yet to lose its licenses despite widespread COVID-19 deaths at the facility, said recently aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who says state laws are too lenient and have the hands tied.
Cuomo’s team members made the remarks during last week’s already-famous meeting with Democratic lawmakers, in which top aide Melissa DeRosa admitted that state officials withheld condemnatory data showing the scope of the number. of coronavirus deaths in residences.
“I think a lot of these nursing homes, frankly, in retrospect, even before COVID, have been coming out for many years,” DeRosa said during the closed-door virtual meeting, the sound of which was reviewed by The mail.
DeRosa was responding to a call from State Assembly member Ron Kim (D-Queens) – whose uncle is presumed to have died of coronavirus in a nursing home – to hold the “bad actors” accountable and demand ” retroactive justice “in the facilities Residents with positive COVID with other people, which allows the virus to spread.
“I think if there’s any evidence that someone was intentional or someone was negligent in a way that goes beyond the normal course that costs people’s lives, I think we all share the same goal, which is to make them responsible.” . said DeRosa.
Pressed by state Sen. James Skoufis (D-Orange) on what steps have actually been taken to hold houses accountable for their lack of height, Cuomo’s attorney Beth Garvey admitted there was not much to report.
“It hasn’t happened,” Garvey said, asking if the state has revoked residency licenses for seniors, as Cuomo has threatened him with serious infractions.
“We have a significant due process, obviously, for those operators that we have to go through and hearings. So these are still going on.”
“Right now, we don’t have designated receivers at the moment,” Garvey continued, asking if there were facilities in control service.
The facilities have not been particularly affected in the pocket either.
Between the start of the pandemic and Feb. 4, the state Department of Health has conducted 2,284 infection control inspections at residences.
But the audits have resulted in only 170 violations, which Skoufis said “seems low given the kind of knowledge we’re all operating with.”
These 170 violations, however, have resulted in only $ 1.3 million in fines, with state fines limited to $ 10,000 per piece.
“Ten thousand dollars is really the maximum we can assess for an offense, even for an intentional violation of a public health law,” Garvey said.
Skoufis noted, however, that $ 1.3 million more than 170 offenses shake an average of about $ 7,650 per offense, a sum he said “equates to a slap on the wrist.”
DeRosa acknowledged the need to intensify enforcement, but questioned the extent to which it was possible under current state legislation.
“I think that’s something we should review, I think we should increase the sanctions,” he said. “I am not suggesting that we should not have the due process. But if there’s a way to change the law where we can speed things up a little bit, we should do it. “
Richard Mollot, head of the advocacy group for nursing home residents, Long Term Care Community Coalition, said Cuomo’s aides correctly identified a problem with the status quo, but did not need to explain the problem to lawmakers .
“The governor and the Department of Health don’t need to wait in the legislature,” Mollot said.
“They can provide immediate relief to residents and families by improving the application of minimum standards, releasing guidelines to allow each resident to designate a visitor and opening communications with residents’ advocates.”
James Clyne, executive director of the Leading Age NY nursing home advocacy group, said, however, that was not the most regulatory response.
“Apart from nuclear plants, there is no one more regulated than residences,” Clyne said. “More sanctions is not the answer. The solution is to work with nursing homes to provide us with the tools we need. ”
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi responded on Sunday: “Lawmakers seemed to agree with us that the fines were too low and new actions are needed to further protect patients in these facilities and pledged to debate these vital changes “.