Despite Governor Hochul’s promises of transparency, the state Health Department continues responding to requests for pandemic data with stalling tactics that became notorious during the Cuomo administration.

In one striking example, the department recently responded to the Empire Center’s request for updated nursing home fatality data with the same form letter – and the same invalid excuse for delay – that it used last year as part of what came to be recognized as a cover-up.

In its letter of Sept. 22, 2021, the department said it could not produce the data until Nov. 29 – five months after the original request – “because a diligent search for responsive records is still being conducted.”

That’s exactly the same boilerplate explanation that the department gave for withholding nursing home data from the Empire Center in August 2020, and it was specious in both cases.

In reality, the requested records were readily findable in the department’s Health Emergency Response Data System, or HERDS, which had been collecting daily reports from nursing homes since early in the coronavirus pandemic.

The unwarranted delay on nursing home data is part of a pattern in how the department handles requests under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). Of the 62 requests for pandemic data filed four months ago by the Empire Center, nine have been completely fulfilled, four partially fulfilled and nine denied outright.

The other 40, including the request for nursing home death data, have been postponed indefinitely. In all but a few of those cases, the department claimed to be conducting a “diligent search” for records.

On Monday, the Empire Center formally appealed 32 of those postponements on grounds that the delays were unreasonable and that the department failed to commit to a hard deadline as required by law.

In its appeals related to long-term care deaths, the center also cited the outcome of its lawsuit last year – which resulted in a ruling that the department had violated FOIL and an order to promptly turn over the requested data.

The department has 10 business days to respond to the appeals.

In case it needs to be said, last year’s stonewalling did not end well.

The Cuomo administration was eventually forced to admit that the full toll among long-term care residents – including those who died after being transferred to hospitals – was almost 6,000 higher than previously known, an increase of about 50 percent.

The ensuing scandal made national headlines and contributed to the political demise of former Governor Cuomo, who resigned in August.

Once the Empire Center obtained detailed records – including the dates and locations of deaths – it found a statistical correlation between a Cuomo administration policy directing homes to admit COVID-positive patients during the first wave and higher death rates in facilities that complied.

On Tuesday, Hochul unveiled a reorganized and upgraded COVID tracker website that she described as “yet another step we are taking towards more transparency.”

Among other positive steps, the state is posting more data in tabular, downloadable format. One of newly posted data sets gives the death tolls in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other adult-care facilities, which is an improvement over the PDF files that state had posted before. But the data set gives only cumulative totals as of Oct. 18, 2021 – without the date-specific information that would make it possible to track trends, pinpoint outbreaks or assess policy decisions.

Meanwhile, the Health Department under her management is withholding those important details in exactly the same discredited manner as it did under her scandal-scarred predecessor. If Hochul wants her administration to be truly transparent, she has a long way yet to go.

About the Author

Bill Hammond

As the Empire Center’s senior fellow for health policy, Bill Hammond tracks fast-moving developments in New York’s massive health care industry, with a focus on how decisions made in Albany and Washington affect the well-being of patients, providers, taxpayers and the state’s economy.

Read more by Bill Hammond

You may also like

While New York’s Medicaid Budget Soared, Public Health Funding Languished

Four years after a devastating pandemic, the state has made no major investment to repair or improve its public health defenses. While funding for Medicaid over the past four years Read More

A Medicaid Grant Recipient Sponsors a Pro-Hochul Publicity Campaign

While much of the health-care industry is attacking Governor Hochul's Medicaid budget, at least one organization is rallying to her side: Somos Community Care, a politically active medical group in the Bronx that recently r Read More

New Jersey’s Pandemic Report Shines Harsh Light on a New York Scandal

A recently published independent review of New Jersey's pandemic response holds lessons for New York on at least two levels. First, it marked the only serious attempt by any state t Read More

A Politically Active Medical Group Gets $29 Million in ‘Distressed’ Provider Funds

State officials awarded $29 million in 'distressed' provider funding to a politically active medical group in the Bronx, state records confirm. a network of physicians and other he Read More

Albany Lawmakers Push a $4 Billion Tax on Health Insurance

Legislative leaders are proposing an additional $4 billion tax on health insurance plans in the upcoming state budget – but withholding specifics of how it would work. Read More

Loss of Patients and Revenue Foreshadowed Downsizing for SUNY Downstate

The SUNY-owned hospital in Brooklyn facing a newly announced downsizing plan has seen its patient volume and revenue plunge over the past decade, according to a review of its financial reports. Read More

How a Medicaid Program To Improve Nursing Home Care Ended Up Paying for Union Benefits

New York State's budget-making process sometimes works like a closed loop, as interest groups on the receiving end of state spending reinvest a portion of their proceeds to lobby Albany for still more money. Read More

Hochul’s ‘Straight Talk’ on Medicaid Isn’t Straight Enough

Arguably the biggest Medicaid news in Governor Hochul's budget presentation was about the current fiscal year, not the next one: The state-run health plan is running substantially over budget. Read More