End of Legislative Session is Near, Advocacy Needed for End of Session, and CBC Says Medicaid Redesign Achieved Savings, But More Work is Needed
End of Legislative Session is Near
There are only three weeks of session left, leaving us with nine session days remaining. Now is crunch time to get legislation introduced, debated on and passed. But don’t forget, there are still bills we are opposing that we need to make sure do not pass! We continue to ask that you let your legislators know how you feel about all of the important issues still yet to be debated and voted on. There have been several updates to our pre-written letters available online for you to send to your lawmakers. Be sure to look them over to see new bill introductions and up-to-date information and continue to take action!
Advocacy Needed for End of Session
Highlighted below are six key areas that we need your advocacy assistance with over the remaining days of the legislative session:
1. Role of the Nurse: Did You Know that Nurses Can’t Provide Nursing in Most Assisted Living Settings?
We are very happy to report that, at our urging, Assemblyman Gottfried has introduced A.10384 – (Gottfried), which would allow all Adult Care Facility (ACF) and assisted living providers that employ nurses the option to provide nursing services directly. Many ACF and assisted living facilities in the state currently employ nurses, but only those facilities that are licensed as an Enhanced Assisted Living Residence (EALR) can provide nursing services directly. Our ACF/assisted living members have been wanting to utilize the nursing resources they have in-house, in order to provide more immediate and proactive services to their residents, and have the ability to conduct assessments that could prevent emergency room visits and unnecessary hospitalizations. This would enable ACF and assisted living settings to be a more effective partner to others in the context of DSRIP and managed long term care, while also providing a better quality of life to their residents.
This new bill is a very exciting step in this long-standing member priority, and we need your help to move it to the next level. Please take two minutes today to send your representatives a message that you want them to support this bill. We have made it easy for you! Click here and input your information, and our advocacy tool will automatically send a message we crafted to your legislators.
In order for us to be successful in our advocacy, we must engage a large-scale grassroots effort. If this issue is important to you, share our advocacy page with your board, staff, residents, resident families, and anyone else that might care about this issue; and ask them to send a message as well. Anyone in New York can send a letter of support, and it is very easy to do. We need to send an overwhelming message to our representatives, and there are only three weeks of session left so we urge you to take action today!
2. Nurse Staffing Ratios: We must continue to oppose bill A.8580-A (Gunther)/S.782 (Hannon), also known as the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act. This legislation would create specific staffing ratios for nurses and other direct-care staff in hospitals and nursing homes and would cost approximately $1.06B to implement in nursing homes alone. We have created a cost estimator for members to see the true impact it would have on their facilities. Please take a look at our full memo of opposition here.
You can quickly take action and let your legislators know how this unreasonable mandate would hurt hospitals and nursing homes by visiting our campaign to email, Facebook and/or tweet your legislators. Another great way to advocate on this issue is by texting RATIOS to 52886.
3. Memorandum of Understanding to Allocate Housing Funding: It is a race and we only have until the end of session to get legislators to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to release nearly $2B in funding that has been approved in the state budget for affordable housing over the next five years. There is no actual deadline, but agreements are more attainable when legislators are in town and session is still in.
Please visit our campaign to take action by emailing, Facebooking and/or tweeting your lawmakers to make sure the MOU is signed before June 16th (last day of session).
4. Independent Senior Housing Resident Freedom of Choice Act: Bill A.102343 (Cymbrowitz)/S.2276-A (Young), also known as the Freedom of Choice Act would clarify that individuals living in senior housing have the right to access and obtain the same services that they would if they were an individual residing in the community, from the provider of their choosing. These services include personal care, home care, case management, technologies and other community services that support them to live independently in the community. Ensuring access to such services is also in furtherance of New York State policy of promoting access to community living and community-based services to maintain the health and quality of life of senior citizens and the disabled. It also serves to prevent avoidable and costly admission to medical and other institutional-type facilities.
Please take a look at our full memo of support and be sure to let your lawmakers know by visiting our campaign and taking action!
5. Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC) Revitalization Act: As reported last week, LeadingAge NY drafted legislation to modernize the CCRC statute and eliminate barriers to the development, expansion, and efficient operation of CCRCs. As a result, bill S.7778 (Hannon) was introduced in the Senate, but has yet to be introduced in the Assembly. We need you to contact your legislators TODAY, insisting that they sign on as a sponsor. This legislation is crucial to ensure that the requirements and duplicative oversight of CCRCs are changed in the statute.
View our full memo of support and be sure to get on our advocacy page to make sure your lawmakers know what is at stake for CCRC development and operation.
6. SSI Increase Update: As we reported earlier, there was a Senate bill introduced to increase the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) rate for ACF residents. Bill S.7333-Serino, now has an identical bill in the Assembly, A.10224-Brindisi. This is a significant step in the legislative process; if the bill gets passed in both houses, it will be delivered to the Governor. Click here to send a letter to your representatives to make sure this legislation passes.
CBC Says Medicaid Redesign Achieved Savings, But More Work is Needed
On Mon., the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) released a report examining New York's recent Medicaid reforms, concluding that Governor Cuomo’s administration has achieved substantial savings.
According to the report, the state is on track to meet and my go above and beyond its goal of saving between $1.3B and $1.9B per year by the end of the decade.
Some of the savings are due to the shifting to a managed care model, which has helped reduce the rate of growth in the $60B Medicaid program.
The report shows that approximately one-quarter of all Medicaid recipients remain in a fee-for-service model. That model represents the most expensive group including the elderly and disabled. CBC’s full report can be viewed here.