Assisted living facilities in New York State must take back residents who were hospitalized under suspicion of having the Covid-19 virus if they have no symptoms, according to a new regulation issued Tuesday.
The mandate applies even if they tested positive for the virus, the State Health Department's rule says.
It's basically the same policy the department set for nursing homes on March 25.
"This has probably emanated from what’s going on in New York City, where the hospitals, at least up until now, have been overwhelmed and need to turn beds over and discharge people so that somebody else can come into the hospital," said Lisa Newcomb, executive director of the Empire State Association of Assisted Living.
Patients with the virus but no symptoms must be allowed back into their assisted living facility or nursing home if a hospital decides the patient is medically stable enough to be released from the hospital.
And assisted living facilities and nursing homes are not allowed to make a resident take a Covid-19 test before letting them enter or return.
No one can be barred from an assisted living facility or nursing home solely because they have the virus, or are suspected of having it, the regulation says.
But a Health Department spokesman said if a facility "is not medically prepared to meet a patient’s needs, they should not take the resident."
Mark Ferreri, the administrator of a Lockport assisted living facility, said the regulation could endanger other residents and staff – not to mention potentially endangering a patient suspected of having the virus.
"If we take someone back, not knowing that the individual is positive or negative, and then put that individual into, say, a wing that we designate for Covid residents, and then they turn out to be negative, you’re infecting that person, which is not correct," said Ferreri, administrator of Briarwood Manor and executive vice president of the state association.
"If we don’t know (their virus status) and they come back, we have to treat everyone as positive. That’s kind of an unneeded thing if they’re truly negative. We’re wasting supplies. It’s not ideal," Ferreri said.
A hospital discharge plan might call for a resident to be isolated for a week or two. Newcomb said that's not always easy.
“This is a very vulnerable population. We’re talking about elderly, many with underlying conditions, so they certainly are very susceptible to (Covid-19). At the same time, most of them are ambulatory," Newcomb said.
“There are also some residents who have cognitive impairment – dementia, Alzheimer’s – not that they refuse to comply but they’re just unable to comply with isolation because they don’t remember. A lot of times they’re in a secure unit, they’re accustomed to being able to walk around the premises, and it could be very difficult to keep them away from interacting with others," Newcomb said.
On the other hand, if the person has Covid-19 symptoms, they cannot enter an assisted living facility unless the facility has clinical staff able to treat them, the Health Department's regulation said.
“It was just a little alarming, because a lot of the facilities, for one, don’t have the correct supplies to care for people," Ferreri said.
He's sent two residents with suspicious symptoms to be hospitalized, but both tested negative.
Michele Ladouceur, administrator of Heathwood Assisted Living and Memory Care in Amherst, pointed out that assisted living residents cannot simply be evicted.
"This is their home, and I think if they're within our retention standards, we do what we're asked to do," said Ladouceur, whose facility does not contain any Covid-19 patients.
“It comes down to the rights of one versus the rights of others, which is a global problem that’s never been solved, ever. I understand everyone’s positions and they’re valid positions, and we just have to work through it," Newcomb said.
