On April 25, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) added new provisions to the hospital and nursing home personal protective equipment (PPE) stockpile requirements included in the State’s Surge and Flex emergency rule. The provisions explicitly disqualify expired PPE from being counted toward fulfillment of a health care facility’s PPE stockpile obligations. The added provisions read:
In order to maximize the shelf life of stockpiled inventory, providers should follow the appropriate storage conditions as outlined by manufacturers and inventory should be rotated through regular usage and replace what has been used in order to ensure a consistent readiness level, and expired products should be disposed of when their expiration date has passed. Expired products shall not be used to comply with the stockpile requirement set forth in paragraph (1) of this subdivision.
The PPE emergency regulations went into effect on April 25, 2022, and all New York State health care facilities should review and adjust their existing stockpile inventory to remain in compliance with the regulations’ requirements.