April Budget Advocacy Action Items!

The state Legislature passed the fifth budget extender of 2023 on Mon., April 24^th. The emergency appropriation is effective through Fri., April 28^th, by which time lawmakers will need to either approve a final budget or pass yet another extender as leaders continue to argue over the $227 billion spending plan.

Now in the final week of April, LeadingAge NY is hearing that health budget discussions are being had more frequently and that funding decisions are likely to be made over the coming days. This is a critical time to reignite our advocacy for our top budget priorities to ensure their inclusion (or omission) in the final state budget agreement!

PLEASE CALL YOUR STATE SENATOR AND ASSEMBLYMEMBER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE with the below talking points that are most relevant to your organization (nursing home/Assisted Living Program (ALP)/Assisted Living Residence (ALR)). If you are a multi-service provider, we encourage you to discuss all issues with the offices that you call. You can find your legislators’ contact information here. Please call the Albany office and leave a voicemail if someone does not answer the phone.

NURSING HOME AND ADULT DAY HEALTH CARE (ADHC) MEDICAID TALKING POINTS: Please Provide Meaningful Medicaid Increases to Nursing Homes and ADHC!

This year, nursing home families, staff, and providers like me from across the state have been advocating for a 20 percent Medicaid increase for nursing homes.
We have asked for 20 percent because our nursing home Medicaid rates today are based on 2007 costs. Our rates have not been updated for inflation ever since, despite the fact that costs have risen by 42 percent, conservatively.
I thank the Legislature for proposing a 10 percent increase in your one-house budgets, but it is not enough to make up the Medicaid reimbursement shortfall.
A substantial Medicaid rate increase is a critical first step to enabling us to hire more staff, open more beds, reduce waitlists for care, and alleviate hospital gridlock, and to ensuring the financial viability of high-quality, non-profit nursing homes like mine.
In addition to this first step, we need a stable, long-term solution. If not, we will find ourselves in this same position again every year.
To solve the root of the problem, the Legislature should require the State to update nursing home Medicaid rates at least every five years to better reflect current costs. This can be accomplished with nursing home “rebasing” budget language – as proposed by Assembly bill A.5905 (Woerner).
Finally, any Medicaid rate increase provided to nursing homes should also be extended to adult day health care programs – the majority of which are sponsored by nursing homes and have struggled to reopen since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Please provide a MEANINGUL Medicaid increase to nursing homes and adult day health care AND include a rebasing measure in the final state budget!

ALP BUDGET TALKING POINTS: Assisted Living Programs Need a 10-20 Percent Increase in the Final State Budget!

After 15 years of no inflation adjustment to our Medicaid rates, three years of operating in a pandemic, a health care workforce emergency, and significant increases in worker wages and benefits, we NEED you and your colleagues to provide a 10-20 percent Medicaid increase for Assisted Living Programs in the final state budget!
This 20 percent Medicaid increase is necessary for us to be able to sustainably compete for staff and raise wages.
The ALP is the only Medicaid-funded assisted living option in NY. We MUST ensure that Medicaid-eligible older adults have options when they can no longer remain at home.
While we appreciate the Legislature’s proposed 10 percent increase to the Assisted Living Program Medicaid rate, it is not enough to meaningfully address the chronic underfunding and the strains that are being felt throughout the health care continuum.
Include any specifics for your organization regarding the increase in workforce costs, wages, benefits, bonuses, etc.
Finally, we need to update the base year for ALP Medicaid rates – which are currently based on 1992 nursing home rates – to bring the rate closer to current costs.
Please urge your colleagues to provide nothing less than a 20 percent Medicaid increase to Assisted Living Programs in this year’s budget!

ALR BUDGET TALKING POINTS: Address Assisted Living Residence Quality Reporting Outside of Budget Process

The Executive Budget included an ambitious proposal to develop quality measures for Assisted Living Residences and public posting of information to begin in January 2024. (The proposal can be found in Part Z of the Article VII Health and Mental Hygiene budget bill).
I urge you to omit this proposal from the final budget agreement and address this issue outside of the budget process.