Oversight Committee Investigating ‘Unnecessary’ COVID-19 Deaths in New York Nursing Homes

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks during a press conference in New York City in August , 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Republicans on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform have opened an inquiry into thousands of deaths at New York nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (pdf), the ranking members from the two committees point to guidance issued by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo on March 25, 2020, which stated that “no resident shall be denied readmission or admission to the [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19,” and that “[nursing homes] are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident ... be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or re-admission.”

This order contradicted guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and “likely” led to the “unnecessary deaths” of thousands, the July 26 letter says.

The letter reminds Hochul that her administration had promised to be “fully transparent” with regard to the data related to nursing home readmissions and COVID-19 deaths.

“This investigation is even more important considering troubling reports from the New York Assembly Minority Leader that you are in ‘no rush’ to provide answers to the families that lost loved ones in New York nursing homes,” the letter reads.

The letter asks Hochul to produce critical material regarding the issue no later than Aug. 9, including, in part, the total number of COVID-19-related nursing home deaths, and all state-issued guidance, executive orders, and directives regarding hospital discharges to nursing homes.

In an interview last year, former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx admitted that Cuomo’s March 25, 2020, guidance had violated CMS guidance. She also said that readmitting potentially positive COVID-19 residents back into nursing homes had negative consequences.

Wrong Data

In January 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James published a report stating that the state’s health department underreported COVID-19-related nursing home deaths by up to 50 percent.

In March this year, New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released a report (pdf) stating that during the 10-month period between April 2020 and February 2021, the New York Health Department had failed to account for about 4,100 lives lost in nursing homes due to COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the state administration is reportedly planning to hire a third-party auditor who will be given until late 2023 to deliver a final report on the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. An initial report on the findings is expected by May 2023.

New York State Assemblymember Ron Kim, a Democrat, has blamed Hochul for waiting too long to begin an investigation to scrutinize the Cuomo administration’s efforts to allegedly falsify the COVID-19 death toll.

What “was the intent behind hiding the accurate death toll numbers, which precluded the legislators from intervening sooner on behalf of their panicked constituents?” Kim said in a statement, according to The Associated Press. Kim’s uncle died in a New York nursing home from a suspected COVID-19 infection.