Legislative Bulletin: State Reaches Budget Agreement for Fiscal Year 2023-24
May 5, 2023
State Reaches Budget Agreement for Fiscal Year 2023-24
After a month of prolonged state budget negotiations beyond the April 1st deadline, this week, the Senate and Assembly passed legislation enacting the final budget for SFY 2023-24. All nine final budget bills were passed late Tuesday night, and were signed by the Governor on Wednesday, May 3rd.
On Monday afternoon, LeadingAge New York issued an initial summary of the final budget agreement, and the measures that are most relevant to our membership. The summary was published prior to the release of the Education, Labor and Family Assistance budget bill (“ELFA”) and State Operations appropriations, but it reviews the high-level takeaways from all seven other bills, including the health and mental hygiene (“HMH”) article VII.
Despite now having the entire final budget passed and signed, LeadingAge New York is still analyzing budget language, its relevance and impact on members, and seeking clarity on certain provisions. Perhaps most notably, the budget provides the largest long-term care Medicaid reimbursement rate increase we have seen in recent years. However, there is still some confusion as to whether nursing homes should expect to see an increase of 6.5% or 7.5%. LeadingAge New York is hearing that the intent is to provide a 7.5% increase to nursing homes, but the confusion represented in the language and the dollars allocated for the increase remains.
Members can expect to see a comprehensive SFY 2023-24 Final Budget Memo, covering all member service lines and more, no later than Tuesday, May 9th. In the meantime, the summary linked above should give members a sense of where top budget priorities landed in the final agreement.
Preparing for the Remainder of 2023 Legislative Session
While this year's budget work has officially concluded and we can indulge in a brief sigh of relief, our work for the 2023 Legislative Session is far from over. Session is scheduled to conclude on June 8th, and over the next five weeks, lawmakers will be taking up their remaining legislative priorities and attempting to address issues that were not included in the final budget agreement.
With many long term care-related issues still front-of-mind for lawmakers, and with some of LeadingAge New York's own policy priorities remaining unaddressed, it is certain that we will need your continued advocacy throughout the remainder of this session.
Below are digital advocacy campaigns for some of the top legislative issues that LeadingAge NY will be working on over the next five weeks, and there will be more to come! Each link will bring you to a webpage where you can learn about the issue, read our legislative memo, and enter your information to send an email to your lawmakers.
While we are not mobilizing our members to take action in a robust manner at this moment, there will be times over the next five weeks that we will urgently need you to take action. So, we encourage our membership to get re-acquainted with some of the below-listed issues that are sure to arise over the coming weeks.
- Oppose Further Restrictions on Psychotropic Medications in Nursing Homes and Adult Care Facilities (ACFs)
- Oppose an Increase in Penalties for ACFs
- Support the Role of the Nurse in ACFs
- Support Affordable Independent Senior Housing Assistance Program
- Authorize the Use of Medication Aides in the Nursing Home – New Advocacy Letter Coming Soon! Flyer in support available here.
In addition to engaging in advocacy action alerts, it is important that members maintain connection with legislative offices over the next several weeks. When connecting with legislators over the remainder of session, thank them for the funding that is being provided in this year’s budget for long term care and aging services – but also express your persistent workforce and financing challenges. Say that you are grateful for the support and attention to long term care that has come this year, but explain that the sector still needs significant resources and support to make up for over a decade of under-funding.
In addition, use your legislators as a resource and support for any projects you have under way that will affect their district. We encourage members to do this year-round. Your lawmakers want to be helpful to you! And we need allies and supporters in Albany to help us improve the system that serves older adults and people with disabilities.
Thank you in advance for sticking with us for the remainder of the 2023 Legislative Session! We will keep you apprised of the latest advocacy action items via our Friday Legislative Bulletins and other more urgent updates as needed.
ACTION ALERT: Urge Legislators to Support Role of the Nurse in ACF!
Last week, LeadingAge New York priority legislation the “Role of the Nurse”, was advanced out of the Senate Health Committee and referred to Senate Finance committee. LeadingAge New York strongly supports this bill, A.5670 (Solages)/S.5471 (Rivera), which would allow nurses that are employed by an Adult Care Facility (ACF) the option to provide limited, episodic nursing services to residents that need temporary assistance.
This bill provides a common sense and person-centered approach to ACF and assisted living services, which is also consistent with federal and state policy. The legislation makes it clear that residents who need a higher level of care will still indeed get a higher level of care if they truly need it, but also allows unnecessary hospitalizations to be more easily avoided.
CLICK HERE to contact your legislators, urging for the passage of Role of the Nurse legislation! It only takes a few clicks!
Additionally, if your state legislators sit on the Senate Finance Committee or the Assembly Health Committee, we encourage you to call their offices and express your support of this common-sense legislation. If you call, ask your legislators to help move the bill out of committee and onto the floor for passage!
LeadingAge New York in the News
With the finalization of New York State’s 2023-24 Budget earlier this week, LeadingAge New York has been speaking with the press about the anticipated impacts on not-for-profit and public long-term care providers and the people they serve. On Monday, President and CEO of LeadingAge New York, Jim Clyne, spoke with a reporter from the Buffalo News. The article covered the Medicaid rate increases provided to hospitals and nursing homes, stating that this year’s budget provides the largest Medicaid reimbursement rate increase the state has seen in several years. But, stakeholders maintain that the increase is “just a drop in the bucket” for a larger health care system in crisis.
In response to questions from the reporter, Clyne explained, “We're just concerned that it's not going to change the dynamic in the real world, which is, we can't hire the employees to staff the beds." LeadingAge New York expanded upon this point in a press statement that was released on Thursday afternoon. The statement goes further to urge elected officials and agencies to expedite the disbursement of the Medicaid increase, establish a mechanism for the more consistent updating of nursing home Medicaid rates to reflect current costs, and to authorize the use of medication aides in the nursing home to bolster the workforce career ladder.
ACTION ALERT: Urge Congress to Increase Visa Processing Funding!
Thousands of desperately needed foreign-born health care workers are poised to come to the U.S., but their arrival is being delayed due to the federal government’s backlogged and overburdened visa processing operations.
Congress can do better, and should increase funding for the Department of State’s National Visa Center in the fiscal year 2024 budget to allow the National Visa Center to hire additional staff to accelerate the processing of new employment-based visas for foreign-born health care workers.
Congress must act to speed up employment-based visa approvals! Long-term care and aging services providers are desperate for staff, particularly in New York where we continue to be in a health care workforce crisis.
CLICK HERE to contact members of Congress TODAY, urging them to increase visa processing funding!
LeadingAge & LeadingAge New York 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 Policy Updates – Mondays and Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m. Past call recordings are available here and you can register here for future calls.
Contact: Sarah Daly; 518.867.8845; sdaly@leadingageny.org