ALBANY — Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett cast doubt Tuesday that the department plans to review the state’s pandemic policies in nursing homes, disappointing Republicans who have insisted on a third-party investigation and report on controversial practices adopted during the coronavirus public emergency.

Bassett met Republicans’ questions about the state’s COVID protocols in nursing homes Tuesday during the Legislature’s annual joint budget hearing on health with stoic, brief answers — focusing on the department’s success in the lower and declining COVID-19 infection rates in adult-care facilities during the recent winter surge.

“It’s so critically important to me to make sure that residents of nursing homes were made safe during omicron and we’ve been doing that at the Health Department,” Bassett said in response to Sen. Sue Serino, R-Hyde Park.

“I think that’s unacceptable, respectfully,” Serino replied.

Serino and Sen. Jim Tedisco, R-Glenville, introduced legislation Monday to require the state DOH to reaudit the number of virus fatalities in the state’s 600-plus adult-care facilities, and conduct an investigation into the Gov. Andrew Cuomo administration’s pandemic policies that relate to nursing homes.

A controversial March 25, 2020, DOH memo to send COVID-positive nursing home patients home to their facilities to recover issued by former Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker, Bassett’s predecessor, continues to be the impetus for the lawmakers’ plea for a review.

The proposed legislation would require the DOH to release within 90 days a public report on its conclusions about early pandemic policies, their impact on the death toll and an action plan for adult-care facilities to prepare for future health emergencies.

Bassett would not answer questions about using the department’s resources to conduct such a review.

“If this is pending legislation, obviously I won’t comment on that,” the health commissioner said. “If it’s passed, of course, we’ll read it.”

Republicans on Monday urged Gov. Kathy Hochul to include the language in her 30-day amendments to her executive budget proposal.

The Democrat-led Legislature is likely to remain united with Bassett’s apathy about the proposed investigation and let the legislation die in committee.

Bassett said last month she has not read the memo, and has said she did not intend to rehash the mistakes of past administrations, urging a focus on the future.

In wake of the March 2020 order, Tedisco asked Bassett about the department’s plans to safely divert nursing home patients to hospitals or other facilities to recover away from other vulnerable residents, requesting to know if she had devised a different strategy when the next contagious disease emerges.

“We have so many more tools now than we had a year ago,” Bassett said of treating vulnerable populations. “We have now strict oversight of infection control.”

Tedisco repeatedly interjected or cut Bassett off, not allowing her to finish a thought or completely answer the question.

He was in the middle of interrupting the health commissioner a third time when his time ran out.

“Jim, you’ve now used up your time and not allowed Dr. Bassett to answer the question,” said Senate Finance Committee Chair Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan. “You’re going to have to take this offline, I’m sorry.”

Tedisco remarked how he did not receive an answer.

Krueger audibly sighed.

“Please leave time for people to answer,” replied Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chair Helene E. Weinstein, D-Brooklyn.

Assemblyman Kevin Byrne, R-Mahopac, said Bassett’s remarks to not focus on the past troubled him.

“I do think it’s important that we examine our state’s pandemic response, everything from masks to contact tracing to controversial policies like the March 25 mandate,” he said. “I’m a big believer in that you have to learn from your mistakes, whether we did things that were right or we did things that were wrong for us to improve and do better in the future.”

Bassett recounted her start as the state’s 17th health commissioner on Dec. 1, and the department’s laser-focus on nursing homes after discovery of the highly virulent COVID omicron variant the following day.

Three-quarters of all COVID-19 deaths have occurred among people ages 65 and older, with nursing home residents making up one-third of state virus fatalities, Bassett said.

She repeated her vague statements about the department’s fight against omicron during the winter surge.

“I have been, since day one as commissioner, focused on the omicron urge and keeping nursing home residents safe,” Bassett added. “I’m very proud of our track record in that regard.”

More than 15,000 New Yorkers in nursing homes have died from coronavirus complications over the last 23 months.

About 12,000 state residents in nursing homes became infected with COVID-19 in the first wave of the virus in spring 2020.

Hochul’s executive budget includes $1.6 billion for a capital program for facility improvements, and additional funding for long-term care facilities to help meet the state’s minimum staff requirements.