Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo defends COVID-19 nursing home policies during congressional testimony

(WASHINGTON) — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo began his public testimony before Congress on Tuesday by defending his administration’s nursing home policies during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hearing, before the Republican-led House Oversight and Accountability Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, addressed Cuomo’s decision to allow COVID-19-positive patients back into nursing homes and long-term care facilities while the pandemic was underway.

Cuomo previously testified before the subcommittee during a closed-door hearing in June.

“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC on March 13, 2020, [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] CMS issued guidance — let us trust the word ‘guidance’ — that specifically directed nursing homes to not accept COVID-19-positive patients if they were unable to do so safely and to only accept individuals if the nursing home could follow CDC transmission based guidance,” subcommittee Chairman Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said in his opening statement on Tuesday.

In March 2020, as COVID-19 cases were surging, Cuomo issued an order requiring nursing homes to readmit all residents who were “medically stable” and returning after being hospitalized for the virus.

“No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19,” the order read. It further stated that nursing homes were “prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”

However, Cuomo responded that the CMS and CDC, under the administration under former President Donald Trump, advised that “that COVID-positive people could go from hospitals to nursing homes, even if they were still infectious. That was your ruling.”

“‘The March 25 guidance was consistent with the CMS guidance. The March 25 guidance was consistent with the CMS guidance if nursing homes have the ability to adhere to infection prevention and control recommendations.’ That’s the attorney general’s position opinion,” Cuomo said, referring to New York Attorney General Letitia James.

At the time of the directive, Cuomo explained that the order would help expand hospital capacity to meet the demands of caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients. After facing criticism from nursing home advocates, however, the governor amended the order in May 2020, prohibiting hospitals from discharging patients to nursing homes unless they first tested negative for COVID-19.

“The March 25 directive was dubbed a ‘must admit order’ by the public and press, and rightfully so,” Wenstrup said, addressing the former New York governor. “Your directive was not consistent with federal guidance, nor consistent with medical doctrine. You do not put highly contagious patients in with vulnerable patients. subject to infection, and in this case death.”

Cuomo fought back against criticism of his policies and, in July 2020, a report from the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) stated that COVID-19 was introduced into nursing homes by infected staff, and that peak staff infections correlated with peak nursing home resident deaths. The report also found that “admissions policies were not a significant factor in nursing home fatalities.”

However, in January 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report that found the NYSDOH had undercounted the number of nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 by as much as 50%, and failed to count in its official death tally nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 after being admitted to hospitals.

In total, more than 15,000 nursing home residents in New York died of COVID-19.

In 2022, Cuomo’s representative said the Manhattan District Attorney’s office would not file criminal charges in connection with the former governor’s handling of nursing home deaths during the pandemic.

Earlier this year, an independent investigation, commissioned by current New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, found that although Cuomo’s nursing home response policy was based on “the best available data at the time,” communication to the public was poor and caused anxiety for family members of nursing home residents.

“Even the most well-intentioned policy had unforeseen consequences in [New York state] nursing homes,” the report read.