State COVID 19 disaster declaration is about to expire, jeopardizing flexibility needed by health providers

Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s chief of staff, Ben Stevens, has asked legislative leaders whether they are considering a quick special session in Juneau to extend a state COVID-19 disaster declaration due to expire Nov. 15.

The governor issued the declaration last spring. It would have expired earlier but the Legislature extended it until Nov. 15 in Senate Bill 241. The bill dealt with several issues related to the pandemic.

In an Oct. 30 letter to House Speaker Bryce Edgmon and Senate President Cathy Giessel Stevens asked if legislators will call themselves into session or allow the declaration to expire.

“Only the legislature can extend SB 241 and the disaster declaration contained in it,” Dunleavy’s press secretary, Jeff Turner, said in an email to reporters.

“If the legislature does not convene to extend the deadline, Governor Dunleavy has two options to consider. Call an immediate special session or allow SB 241 to expire and issue a new declaration as allowed under state law,” Turner said.

Alaska health care providers are pushing for an extension of SB 241 with legislative, but they acknowledge might be regulatory avenues the state could pursue if the Legislature cannot meet.

In an Oct. 22 letter to Dunleavy, the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association, or ASHNHA, told the governor that without the extension medical providers will lose response flexibility under a series of waivers from federal rules for health care procedures. Special medical licensing provisions in state law will also expire, the letter said.

About 125 waivers from federal rules that provide flexibility for 32 categories of health care services and provider types could be in jeopardy if a state public health emergency declaration is not extended. With the declaration in place the state was able to implement a variety of response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Flexibilities affected by the expiration include the types of practitioners who can provide telehealth services to allowing hospitals to screen patients at off-site locations, a measure taken to prevent spread of the virus, the letter said.

The loss of flexibility granted by the waivers could also affect screening procedures in hospital emergency rooms, the ability to use space for surge control and quarantine, and expanded roles of practitioners.

Also, “the lack of an emergency declaration could place Alaska at risk for missing future federal COVID-19 stimulus relief,” the letter said, which was signed by the CEOS of 13 Alaska hospitals and nursing home facilities as well as Jared Kosin, CEO of the hospital association.

Dunleavy is not keen to see legislators back in Juneau, Turner said. “The number of COVID-19 cases is dramatically increasing statewide. The Governor is rightfully concerned that even a brief special session in Juneau could pose an unacceptable risk to lawmakers, their communities, legislative staff and Juneau residents,” he said.

“The legislature is still working out protocols to prevent an outbreak when it convenes for its regular session in January,” Turner said in the email.