Updates & Analysis

State Updates Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order 202.17 Yesterday (April 15th), Governor Cuomo signed Executive Order 202.17 (available here) which includes new directives related to the COVID-19 emergency. The Order modifies a directive in Executive Order 202.16 (available here) related to issuing no-action or no-filing letters by requiring such letters to be issued by the Attorney General…

State Updates  Governor Cuomo Indicates Further Plateauing of Cases, Discusses Large Scale Testing Efforts Today (April 15th), Governor Cuomo held a press conference during which he announced further evidence of a plateau in the COVID-19 outbreak. Yesterday saw a decrease in the number of total ongoing hospitalizations as well as decreased average growth, while the…

Federal Updates  CMS, DOL, and Treasury Announce Expanded Coverage for Diagnostic Services On April 11th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Labor, and Department of the Treasury jointly issued a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) implementing new requirements to offer coverage with no cost-sharing for COVID-19 testing and associated services…

State Updates Governor Cuomo Announces Continued Reduction in Hospitalizations, New Charity Collaboration Today (April 9th), Governor Cuomo held a press conference (available here) at which he announced that yesterday was the third consecutive day in which the New York saw a decrease in new hospitalizations. However, yesterday also set another new record single-day increase in…

State Updates  Governor Cuomo Sees Preliminary Success in Flattening the Curve, Announces Extended Unemployment Benefits Today (April 8th), Governor Cuomo held a press conference during which he confirmed that data now indicates that the “NY on PAUSE” social distancing measures were successfully working to reduce the severity and “flatten the curve” of the COVID-19 outbreak…

Governor Cuomo Announces Decrease in Average Hospitalizations, Regional Approach to Restarting the Economy Today (April 7th), Governor Cuomo held a press conference during which he announced further improvements in the status of the COVID-19 outbreak. The three-day average of new hospitalizations has significantly decreased, further supporting the idea that the outbreak may be at or…

State Updates Governor Cuomo Announces Possible Plateau in COVID-19 Hospitalizations and Deaths Today (April 6th), during Governor Cuomo’s COVID-19 press conference, the Governor announced that the death rate from COVID-19 has been effectively flat for the last two days in New York State, and the numbers of new hospitalizations and intubations have decreased. Tentative new…

Federal Updates  Treasury Releases Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Interim Final Rule On April 3rd, the Department of the Treasury announced the implementation of sections 1102 and 1106 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). Section 1102 of the Act temporarily adds a new Small Business Administration program, the Paycheck Protection Program,…

Governor Cuomo Addresses Bed Capacity, Staffing Shortages, and Availability of Supplies Today (April 2nd), Governor Cuomo announced at his COVID-19 press conference that all hospitals have increased their bed capacity by 50% as per the State’s recent mandate, and construction has begun on two additional temporary hospitals at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal and the Staten…

State Updates Governor Cuomo Announces New Projections and Preventive Measures, Discusses FY 2021 Budget Today (April 1st), Governor Cuomo announced in his daily COVID-19 conference (available here) that updated McKinsey projections predict a slightly lower and later apex for the COVID-19 outbreak, estimated to be at the end of April. For the first time, these…

Federal Update CMS Lifts Practitioner and Site Restrictions, Waives Oversight Requirements, and Expands Telehealth On March 30th, CMS issued a wide-ranging set of temporary regulatory waivers offering new flexibilities in response to COVID-19. The waivers pertain mostly to Medicare rules, with some Medicaid components, and will go into effect nationwide immediately and last for the…

State Updates Governor Cuomo Announces Statewide Hospital Partnership Today (March 30th), Governor Cuomo announced that the State, in collaboration with its public and private hospitals, will create a central coordination system to handle surging demand due to COVID-19. This is intended to let hospitals who approach their “load threshold” to transfer incoming patients to other…