On March 23, 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order (Executive Order) related to the COVID-19 public health emergency to ease regulatory requirements and expand the resources available to address the emergency.

Significant provisions of the Executive Order are as follows:

Provisions to Expand Facility Capacity

• Orders the Commissioner of Health to direct all general hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, office-based surgery practices and diagnostic and treatment centers to increase the number of beds available to patients, including by canceling all elective surgeries and procedures, as determined by the Commissioner. General hospitals in New York must submit to the New York Department of Health (DOH) their plans to increase available beds. As of this writing, the Commissioner has not yet released guidance defining elective surgeries or procedures or the schedule for general hospitals to submit their plans to DOH. The Executive Order gives the Commissioner the authority to suspend or revoke the operating certificate of any general hospital that is unable to meet the requirements of these directives.
• Permits hospice residences to designate any number of beds as inpatient beds.
• Permits the Commissioner to designate a health care facility as a trauma center or to extent a facility’s designation.
• Waives laws related to hospital construction, minimum facility requirements, and governance to the extent necessary to provide for capacity expansion. Specifically, the Executive Order waives Section 2803 of the Public Health Law, and Parts 400, 401, 405, 409, 710, 711 and 712 of Title 10 of the NYCRR. Of note, the earlier Executive Order 202.5 had provided similar waivers but required prior approval from the Commissioner of Health or the Commissioner of the Office for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (see our summary of Executive Order 202.5 here).

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