1 BEFORE THE NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE: SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, 2 SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON AGING, SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS & 3 GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, 4 ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON AGING, and ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT, ANALYSIS & 5 INVESTIGATION ----------------------------------------------------- 6 VIRTUAL JOINT PUBLIC HEARING: 7 RESIDENTIAL HEALTH CARE FACILITIES AND COVID-19 8 NEW YORK CITY, LONG ISLAND, AND WESTCHESTER 9 ----------------------------------------------------- 10 Date: August 3, 2020 Time: 10:00 a.m. 11 12 PRESIDING: 13 Senator Gustavo Rivera Chair, Senate Standing Committee on Health 14 Senator Rachel May 15 Chair, Senate Standing Committee on Aging 16 Senator James Skoufis Chair, Senate Standing Committee on Investigations & 17 Government Operations 18 Assemblymember Richard N. Gottfried Chair, Assembly Standing Committee on Health 19 Assemblymember Harry B. Bronson 20 Chair, Assembly Standing Committee on Aging 21 Assemblymember John T. McDonald III Chair, Assembly Standing Committee on Oversight, 22 Analysis & Investigation 23 24 25 2 1 SENATE MEMBERS PRESENT: 2 Senator Allesandra Biaggi 3 Senator George M. Borrello 4 Senator Phil Boyle 5 Senator David Carlucci 6 Senator Patrick M. Gallivan 7 Senator James Gaughran 8 Senator Andrew Gounardes 9 Senator Pamela Helming 10 Senator Brad Hoylman 11 Senator Todd Kaminsky 12 Senator Andrew J. Lanza 13 Senator Betty Little 14 Senator John C. Liu 15 Senator Jen Metzger 16 Senator Monica R. Martinez 17 Senator Thomas F. O'Mara 18 Senator Patty Ritchie 19 Senator Luis R. Sepulveda 20 Senator Sue Serino 21 Senator Toby Ann Stavisky 22 Senator James Tedisco 23 Senator Kevin Thomas 24 25 3 1 ASSEMBLYMEMBERS PRESENT: 2 Assemblymember Thomas J. Abinanti 3 Assemblymember Jake Ashby 4 Assemblymember Edward C. Braunstein 5 Assemblymember Kevin M. Byrne 6 Assemblymember Marjorie Byrnes 7 Assemblymember Kevin A. Cahill 8 Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz 9 Assemblymember Joe DeStefano 10 Assemblymember Inez Dickens 11 Assemblymember Charles D. Fall 12 Assemblymember Nathalia Fernandez 13 Assemblymember Sandy Galef 14 Assemblymember Andrew R. Garbarino 15 Assemblymember Aileen M. Gunther 16 Assemblymember Ellen Jaffee 17 Assemblymember Mark Johns 18 Assemblymember Billy Jones 19 Assemblymember Ron Kim 20 Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis 21 Assemblymember Brian Manktelow 22 Assemblymember David G. McDonough 23 Assemblymember Melissa Miller 24 Assemblymember Michael Montesano 25 Assemblymember Amy Paulin 4 1 ASSEMBLYMEMBERS PRESENT (continued): 2 Assemblymember Michael Reilly 3 Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal 4 Assemblymember John Salka 5 Assemblymember Doug Smith 6 Assemblymember Michaelle C. Solages 7 Assemblymember Al Taylor 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 5 1 SPEAKERS: PAGE QUESTIONS 2 Howard Zucker 27 45 3 Commissioner NYS Department of Health 4 Garrett Rhodes 27 45 5 Deputy Superintendent and Special Counsel 6 NYS Department of Financial Services 7 Neil Heyman 167 179 CEO 8 Southern New York Association 9 Michael Balboni 167 179 Executive Director 10 Greater New York Health Care Facilities Association 11 Judy Farrell 248 258 12 Director, Long-Term-Care Ombudsman Tri County Long-Term Ombudsman Program 13 Richard Mollot 248 258 14 Executive Director Long Term Care Community Coalition 15 Roxanne Tena-Nelson 307 322 16 Interim President Continuing Care Leadership Council 17 Lisa Newcomb 307 322 18 Executive Director Empire State Association of 19 Assisted Living 20 John Auerbach 307 322 President and CEO 21 Trust for America's Health 22 Alexa Rivera 344 367 Co-Founder 23 Vivian Rivera-Zayas 344 367 Co-Founder 24 Grace Colucci 344 367 Member 25 Voices for Seniors 6 1 SPEAKERS (continued): PAGE QUESTIONS 2 Kathleen Webster 344 367 3 Member Neighbors to Save Rivington House 4 Lenore Solowitz 344 367 5 Resident Garnerville, NY 6 Judy Johnson 401 428 7 Registered Nurse, Rockland Nursing Home Member of the NYS Nurses Association 8 Milly Silva 401 428 9 Executive Vice President, 1199 SEIU Nursing Home Division 10 United Healthcare Workers East 11 Eric Fogle 401 428 1199 SEIU Member 12 Activities Aide at Holliswood Center 13 Tyresse Byers 401 428 1199 SEIU Member 14 Certified Nursing Assistant at Sarah Neumann Nursing Home 15 Nicole Whittaker 401 428 16 1199 SEIU Member Certified Nursing Assistant at 17 Berkshire Nursing and Rehab Facility 18 Pat Tursi 486 499 Chief Executive Officer 19 Elizabeth Seton Children's Center 20 Rachel Amar 486 499 Parent of a Patient at 21 Elizabeth Seton Children's Center 22 Edwin Simpser, M.D. 486 499 President and CEO 23 St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children 24 25 7 1 SPEAKERS (continued): PAGE QUESTIONS 2 Beth Finkel 533 544 3 New York State Director AARP 4 Judith Grimaldi 533 544 5 Member of Elder Law Section Task Force 6 NYS Bar Association 7 Susan Dooha 553 574 Executive Director 8 Center for Independence of the Disabled 9 Brian O'Malley 553 574 Executive Director 10 CDPAANYS 11 Faigie Horowitz 553 574 Director of Marketing & Communications 12 Caring Professionals, Inc. 13 Claire Altman 553 574 President 14 Altman Strategies, LLC 15 Daniel Ross 594 611 Staff Attorney 16 Mobilization for Justice Legal 17 Dr. Tara Cortes 594 611 Clinical Professor at NYU, and 18 Executive Director of The Hartford Institute for 19 Geriatric Nursing 20 Geoff Lieberman 594 611 Executive Director 21 Coalition of Institutionalized Aged and Disabled 22 23 24 25 8 1 SENATOR RIVERA: Good morning, everyone. 2 This is State Senator Gustavo Rivera, from 3 33rd District in The Bronx, Chair of the Health 4 Committee in the New York State Senate. 5 And I want to welcome all of you to these 6 hearings, which will be -- begin a series of 7 hearings this week and next week on the impact of 8 COVID-19 in different aspects of our state. 9 And today we are talking about nursing homes 10 and home-care settings. 11 And I will be very brief in my introductory 12 remarks, and just say that this hearing is both 13 about accountability, as well as determining what 14 happened, so that we can make sure that, going 15 forward, it does not happen again. 16 Want to make sure that we save lives, and by 17 changing policy might be able to do that. 18 And that is what these hearings are about. 19 We are joined by many of my colleagues, and 20 I will recognize all of the Senate members now, and 21 then pass it to the Assembly. 22 We are joined by my Co-Chairs: Rachel May, 23 from -- who is the Chair of Aging, as well as 24 Senator James Skoufis, who is the Chair of 25 Investigations. 9 1 We are also joined by Majority Members 2 David Carlucci, John Liu, Andrew Gounardes, 3 Kevin Thomas, Allesandra Biaggi, Toby Stavisky, 4 Monica Martinez, Brad Hoylman, Jen Metzger, 5 Luis Sepulveda, and Todd Kaminsky. 6 And we are joined by Minority Health Ranker, 7 Patrick Gallivan; Aging Ranker, Senator Sue Serino; 8 Investigations Ranker, Senator Tom O'Mara; as well 9 as Senators Pat -- Pam Helming, Jim Tedisco, 10 Patty Ritchie, Betty Little, and George Morrello, 11 from the Minority. 12 And my -- now to my Co-Chair in the Assembly, 13 Assemblymember Richard Gottfried. 14 SENATOR LANZA: Chairman, Andrew Lanza here 15 as well. 16 SENATOR RIVERA: Oh. Thank you, 17 Senator Lanza. 18 SENATOR GAUGHRAN: And Jim Gaughran here. 19 SENATOR RIVERA: Gaughran and Lanza. 20 ASSEMBLYMEMBER GOTTFRIED: Okay, before I do 21 go through some procedures, Harry Bronson, Chair of 22 our Aging Committee, will announce all the 23 Assemblymembers who are here, on both sides. 24 ASSEMBLYMEMBER BRONSON: Thank you, 25 [indiscernible] Gottfried. 1 0 1 I will announce assemblymembers from both 2 sides. The order is, basically, what I'm seeing on 3 the participant screen, so bear with me. 4 But first we have Ranker of Health, 5 Kevin Byrne; the Ranker of Aging, Jake Ashby; and 6 the Ranker of Oversight, Brian Manktelow. 7 Other members: 8 Assemblymember Edward Braunstein is with us; 9 Assemblymember Marjorie Byrnes; Kevin Cahill; 10 Steven Cymbrowitz; Joe DeStefano; Charles Fall; 11 Assemblymember Fernandez; Assemblymember Galef; 12 Andrew Garbarino; Aileen Gunther; Ellen Jaffee; 13 Assemblymember Mark Johns; Assemblymember Jones, 14 Assemblymember Ron Kim; 15 Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis; 16 Assemblymember Dave McDonough; 17 Assemblymember Missy Miller; Mike Montesano; 18 Assemblymember Amy Paulin; Michael Reilly; 19 Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal; 20 Assemblymember Doug Smith; Assemblymember Solages; 21 Assemblymember Taylor. 22 And I believe I've caught all assemblymembers 23 who are with us today. 24 ASSEMBLYMEMBER GOTTFRIED: Okay. Thank you. 25 Okay, I'm just going to run through some 1 1 1 procedural points. 2 This will be a very long hearing. 3 And so, every 3 hours or so, we will take a 4 10-minute break for what the Health Committee calls 5 "ambulation and toileting." 6 Opening remarks will be limited to our 7 committee chairs and ranking members, and limited to 8 two minutes, each. People should feel free to take 9 a pass on opening remarks. 10 Witness testimony will be limited to 11 5 minutes, each; a limit that will not apply to the 12 Health Commissioner. 13 Question-and-answer time will be limited to 14 5 minutes per panel for committee chairs and 15 rankers, and 3 minutes for other committee members. 16 Committee members may also submit written 17 questions to -- to us, which will be forwarded to 18 the appropriate witness, asking that the witness 19 respond within three weeks. 20 Each witness will be asked to swear or affirm 21 that the testimony he or she is about to give is 22 true. 23 But since the notice for the swearing in was 24 not included in the hearing notice for this hearing, 25 if a witness declines to swear or affirm, the 1 2 1 witness may testify anyway, and we will note that 2 for the record.