Legislative Bulletin: LeadingAge NY Testifies at Health Budget Hearing
February 26, 2021
LeadingAge NY Testifies at Health & Medicaid Budget Hearing
This Thursday, the Senate Finance, Assembly Ways and Means and Health Committees gathered virtually via Zoom for the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Health and Medicaid. As in years past, the hearing began with lengthy testimony from the Department of Health (DOH) Commissioner, Howard Zucker, and Medicaid Director, Donna Frescatore.
In his opening remarks, Dr. Zucker emphasized that the proposed nursing home reforms would ensure adequate funding is allocated to patient care, adequate staffing levels are maintained, and would impose more severe penalties on facilities found to be in violation.
In response to questioning from legislators on the state's management of COVID-19 in nursing homes, Zucker responded that the proposed reforms would be sufficient to address deficiencies in care highlighted by the pandemic. Zucker also noted that DOH continued to conduct on-site inspections of facilities during the pandemic to the extent that it could. Senator Helming later took issue with this, pointing out that not a single facility is under receivership, and arguing that DOH should better utilize tools available to it.
Nursing Homes continued to be a focus throughout the questioning of Commissioner Zucker. Assemblyman Bronson raised concerns over visitation for family members, arguing that the same protocols used for staff should be used to allow visitation. Zucker responded that while he is sympathetic to this issue, the virus is still a concern despite immunizations. Senator Biaggi was critical of the blanket immunity for providers included in last year's budget. In response to questioning from Biaggi, Zucker denied that any healthcare workers would choose to prioritize profits over patient care because immunity was put in place, and further called the assertion "insulting".
After roughly 9 hours of testimony from the Commissioner and other stakeholders, LeadingAge New York President and CEO Jim Clyne offered testimony to the Legislature. During his testimony, Clyne highlighted the salient points shared in LeadingAge NY’s written testimony and explained the current position of long-term care providers. First and foremost, Jim pointed to the chronic underfunding of aging and long-term care services, explaining that New York’s Nursing Home Medicaid reimbursement rate is the worst in the country, averaging $64 below the cost of care. He then highlighted the exorbitant added costs of testing, PPE and staffing due to the pandemic. Several questions were directed to Jim following his testimony, including questions about proposed penalties, the NY Health Act, and Adult Day Health Care.
The Assembly has published video of the entire hearing here. We have also segmented out the testimony from LeadingAge NY, which can be viewed here.
Senate Passes Package of Nursing Home Legislation
This week, the Senate passed a package of nursing home legislation, aimed to “better support and protect nursing home residents”. Included in the package was bill S.4336-A (Rivera) which would establish a direct patient care spending ratio for nursing homes. The bill would require at least 70 percent of aggregate nursing home revenue to be spent on the direct care of residents and at least 40 percent on staff wages and benefits and contracted staffing services. Any facility that fails to meet these patient care and staff wage expenditure ratios would be required to rebate to all payers the difference between the actual direct care expenditures and the amounts required to achieve the ratio. LeadingAge NY’s memo of opposition to this legislation is available here. Importantly, a similar, but not identical, requirement is included in the Governor’s 30-day amendments.
Assembly leadership has indicated that it intends to pass its own package of nursing home legislation, perhaps as early as next week. The Assembly legislative package will have some legislation in common with the Senate, however, there is still no Same-As bill to S.4336-A and many of the other bills that were passed in the Senate. This means that both houses will need to come to an agreement before any bill can be signed into law. The Assembly’s bill package will likely include a nursing home staffing measure - either A.5685 (Gottfried), which is similar in concept to Rivera’s direct care spending bill, or the long-standing safe staffing ratio legislation.
New Budget Advocacy Letters Now Available!
Now that the Governor has released his 30-day amendments, the Legislature will be ramping up its work on each chamber’s respective one-house budgets. The one-house budgets are an important piece of the overall state budget process. In order to have a budget ask included in the final enacted budget, it must be included in the Senate one-house, the Assembly one-house or the Executive Budget Proposal.
This is a critical time for legislators to hear from you! Please use the links below to send messages to your legislators and the Governor TODAY!
Oppose Proposed Cuts to Nursing Homes
Oppose Proposed Cuts to ACF/AL Providers
Oppose Proposed Cuts to Home and Community-Based Services
Ensure Access to Safe and Affordable Senior Housing in this Year’s Budget
Senate and Assembly Economic Revenue Reports
On Wednesday, both the Senate and the Assembly released their Economic Revenue Reports for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2021-22. State Law requires that each chamber issue an annual Consensus Economic Revenue Report. Each house’s respective report serves as the basis for the joint economic and revenue forecasting process and annual New York State Consensus on Revenue Report which is due on March 1st. The consensus on revenue then informs the dollars available to be allocated in the final budget.
In this week’s reports, the Senate and Assembly predict revenues for SFY 2021-22 to be marginally higher ($1.9-3.5 billion) than the Executive’s forecast, which was released earlier this year. The Assembly report in its entirety is available here, and the Senate Report is available here.
Tell Us How Your Meetings Went!
LeadingAge NY wants to hear about your legislative meetings! If you have met with your elected officials over the last few weeks, for our virtual advocacy days or otherwise, please take a moment to fill out our new Advocacy Engagement Form! This form will now be available on our advocacy website year-round, and we encourage members to make a habit out of filling it out after interacting with their legislators.
This new tool will allow LeadingAge NY to best support members in their advocacy and enhance the overall impact by streamlining follow up and targeting legislators interested in specific issues. We hope you find it helpful. If you have any suggestions or questions, please contact Sarah Daly at sdaly@leadingageny.org.
Letter to the White House, CDC, and CMS on Easing Visitation
Yesterday, LeadingAge National submitted a letter to the White House, the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requesting easing of nursing home visitation guidance—with responsible conditions and precautions. With a successful vaccination program underway, most nursing home residents are fully or nearly fully vaccinated. It’s time for policy to catch up. The letter requests a series of policy changes designed to lower barriers to visitation and reduce the isolation that residents have dealt with for more than a year, including the preconditions and additional support needed to proceed in a safe, smart fashion. Read the press release now.
Urge Congress to Pass Expanded COVID Relief!
We are hearing that members of the NY Congressional Delegation and the U.S. Senate have not heard from many LTC providers specifically on the need for COVID-relief. It is critical that our federal representatives understand the financial strains you are experiencing from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Members can engage in national advocacy TODAY and click here to send a message to Congress, urging them to act on a new relief bill that will help with a national vaccine distribution program, ensure access to testing and PPE, strengthen our aging services workforce, and increase provider relief funds to help control the staggering costs of providing care and services during the pandemic.
Raise your voice TODAY by asking your members of Congress to support a new COVID-19 relief bill that prioritizes older adults and those who care for them!
2021 Virtual Advocacy Resources
While our official advocacy days have concluded, our 2021 grassroots advocacy work is just getting started. Our 2021 Virtual Advocacy website will remain active as it provides relevant information members can use to continue having successful meetings with lawmakers. Tools include our Virtual Meeting Scheduling Guide, budget issue briefs, as well as a recording of our Budget and Advocacy Day Briefing.
Additionally, Sarah Daly, Government Relations Analyst at LeadingAge NY, is available to help you make an advocacy plan for the weeks and months of critical advocacy still ahead. We are happy to help schedule meetings and consider what other lawmakers would be worthwhile for your organization to connect with. Sarah can be reached via email at sdaly@leadingageny.org.
Thank you, as always, for your participation in advocacy at this critical time.
Urge Lawmakers to Prioritize Senior Housing for COVID-19 Vaccine
Elderly New Yorkers living in senior housing are at high risk for COVID-19 and have not been appropriately prioritized by the State of New York or the Federal Government for COVID-19 vaccination. These seniors are often in their 80s, and many need assistance from outside caregivers with activities of daily living. An estimated 38% of all residents currently living in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Section 202 Housing for the Elderly program could be considered “frail” or “near-frail" putting them at risk of severe implications from coronavirus.
With the importance of these individuals being vaccinated in mind, senior housing providers should have the opportunity to work with the Department of Health and Regional Vaccination Networks to begin planning vaccination clinics that can occur on site.
LeadingAge & LeadingAge NY Coronavirus Resources
LeadingAge NY continues to closely follow all COVID-19 news and we are doing our best to keep members informed of updates, recommendations and guidelines from the Department of Health (DOH).
LeadingAge NY and LeadingAge National Member resources are linked below.
LeadingAge NY Coronavirus Resources
LeadingAge NY COVID-19 Weekly Update calls – Mondays at 11 a.m. Click here to join the call from your computer, android or apple device. Or you can join the call by dialing in: 877 853 5257 (Toll Free); Webinar ID: 852 964 255.
LeadingAge National Coronavirus Resources Page
LeadingAge National Pandemic Playbook
COVID-19 Group in the MyLeadingAge Member Community
Coronavirus Daily Member Update calls – Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Past call recordings are available here and you can register here for future calls.
Contact: Ami Schnauber; 518.867.8854; aschnauber@leadingageny.org
Sarah Daly; 518.867.8845; sdaly@leadingageny.org