Situation Report | January 24, 2022
On Friday January 21, the state Department of Health (DOH) posted an emergency regulation that requires home care, hospice and other health care workers to receive COVID-19 booster shots.
The new regulation was made effective January 21, according to Dear Administrator Letter (DAL) released Friday evening.
According to the DAL, covered entities, which includes home care and hospice providers, must ensure personnel who are currently eligible for a COVID-19 booster dose have documentation of compliance with the emergency regulation by February 21, and that personnel not currently eligible for boosters receive their boosters within 30 days of becoming eligible.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that individuals receive a booster shot at least five months after completing their Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine series. The CDC recommends a booster at least two months after completion of a Janssen COVID-19 vaccine primary dose.
The DAL also reviews which health care personnel are covered and reiterates that facilities must have a process in place to consider reasonable accommodation requests from covered personnel based on sincerely held religious beliefs consistent with applicable federal and state laws, including Equal Employment Opportunity laws, such as Title VII of the and Civil Rights Act and the NYS Human Rights Law, and their applicable guidance.
Specifically, the new rule states:
(c) Covered entities shall continuously require personnel to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and to have received any booster or supplemental dose as recommended by the CDC, absent receipt of a medical exemption.
The regulation is available here and the DAL is available here.
A Frequently Asked Questions document is linked to the DAL and available on the DOH website, but are from August 2021. HCA expects the FAQs to soon be updated.
HCA Urges for Implementation to be Delayed
Since the Governor’s office contacted HCA about its intent to require booster shots and the emergency regulation was approved by the Public Health and Health Planning Council last week, HCA has advocated that such a requirement and its implementation deadline be delayed due to the adverse impact it will have on an already dire shortage of home care and hospice staff, the resulting adverse effect on the delivery of patient services, burdensome administrative requirements for agencies and other reasons.
HCA will continue to emphasize the detrimental effects of this new regulation in further discussions with the Governor’s office, DOH and elected officials.
For questions or concerns about this new rule, please contact Andrew Koski or Alyssa Lovelace.