Albany, NY — Empire Center Senior Fellow for Health Policy Bill Hammond will testify before the Congressional Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, sharing his expertise on nursing home mortality rates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hammond’s testimony will focus on the March 25, 2020 New York state Health Department directive, which compelled nursing homes to accept COVID-infected patients being discharged from hospitals.

An Empire Center analysis in February 2021 found a statistically significant correlation between the number of patients transferred and higher mortality rates in the nursing homes that accepted them. The analysis indicated the policy was associated with several hundred and possibly more than 1,000 additional resident deaths.

“The sad fact of the matter is, New York – like other states and the federal government – had not adequately prepared for a pandemic they knew would be coming eventually,” said Bill Hammond as part of his written testimony. “This episode and others like it should be closely investigated – not to shame past officials for misjudgments in the heat of a crisis, but to make sure that future officials will have better options.”

The hearing will take place on May 17 at 10 am in 2247 Rayburn House Office Building, and can be livestreamed here. Others expected to testify include Fox News Senior Meteorologist Janice Dean, Voice for Seniors Co-Founder Vivian Zayas, and Harvard Medical School Professor of Health Care Policy Dr. David Grabowski.

The full testimony can be read here.

The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting policies that can make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.

You may also like

23 MTA Workers Receive $200K in Overtime as Total Payroll Surpasses $8 Billion

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)’s payroll surpassed $8 billion in 2024 – a 2.6 percent increase since 2023, according to , the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Overtime, as measured using payroll records, totaled $ Read More

State Lawmakers Spend $268 Million on Legislative Operations

Spending by state lawmakers on office personnel and administrative costs varies widely, with some paying out nearly twice as much as others on their office operations, according to the most recent reported, posted to SeeThroughNY.net. Read More

Empire Center Digs Through Albany’s Pork Barrel

Albany steered over $226 million in grant awards to 581 local projects between June 2024 and April 2025 through the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY), according to the Empire Center recently received und Read More

Teacher Pensions Added to SeeThroughNY Include 26 Over $300k

New York’s two teacher pension systems last year had 26 retirees eligible to collect pensions of more than $300,000, according to , the Empire Center’s government transparency website. Data reported from Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of Read More

School Districts Plan To Spend Over $35K Per Student, Outpacing Inflation

School districts presenting budgets to voters on Tuesday, May 20, plan to spend an average of $35,012 per student, up 4.6 percent from the current school year, according to new state data. Data collected by the state Education Departme Read More

SeeThroughNY Updated With 1,000+ Latest Union Contracts

New York’s of state and local government union contracts has been updated with the latest collective bargaining agreements for local teachers, police, firefighters, libraries, and public authorities. Among the on SeeThroughNY.net, the Empire Center Read More

The Empire Center Comments on the Budget Deal in Albany

As Governor Hochul and legislative leaders belatedly released details of their agreement on a state budget for fiscal year 2026, the Empire Center released a statement from its Senior Fellow for Health Policy, Bill Hammond: Read More

Educators Receiving $200k+ Doubles in Five Years

The number of school district employees receiving a total compensation of more than $200,000 have more than doubled since 2019, according to posted today at , the Empire Center’s transparency website. The public educator pay data are based on Fiscal Ye Read More