Legislative Bulletin: Advocacy Day is on Tuesday!

Advocacy Day Materials Available Online
LeadingAge NY, the Adult Day Health Care Council (ADHCC) and the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State (HPCANYS) will host an Advocacy Day on Tues., Feb. 10 in Albany. All materials, including: an agenda; issue briefs; talking points; maps and parking directions are posted on LeadingAge NY’s Advocacy Day website. While the ADHCC and HPCANYS issue briefs are not posted at this time, the website will be updated over the weekend and on Monday to reflect the inclusion of these materials. Please be sure to check back if your affiliate’s information is unavailable. Copies of all the materials will be available on Tuesday. If you have any questions about Advocacy Day, please contact Alyssa Lovelace at 518-867-8844.

LeadingAge NY to Testify at Hearing on Antipsychotic Medication in Nursing Homes
The Assembly Health Committee will host a hearing on the use of antipsychotic medication in nursing homes on Wed., Feb. 18. According to the hearing notice, “the purpose of this hearing is to give representatives of residents, families, advocates and providers the opportunity to voice their observations and recommendations in relation to the appropriate and inappropriate use of these drugs.” We will share our testimony with members once it is complete.

Advocacy Alert! February Fridays Are Letter Writing Campaign Days
Currently, there are approximately 11,000 aging New Yorkers who rely on Congregate Care Level 3 Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to pay for the services they receive in Adult Care Facilities (ACFs) and assisted living settings, at a rate of only $40 per day, per person. This is not a sustainable rate for the State’s ACFs who serve SSI-level residents. As a result, ACFs are serving fewer low-income seniors and those low-income seniors that require the support of an ACF, will likely enter into a nursing home. Send a letter to your lawmakers today, urging them to support an increase to the State's Congregate Care Level 3 SSI rate for low-income seniors residing in ACFs and assisted living settings in the 2015-16 State budget. Through LeadingAge NY’s new Advocacy tool, Phone-2-Action, you can also Tweet your lawmakers and/or post this message to your lawmaker’s Facebook wall. Take action now!

Update: E-prescribing Legislation and Audio Conference
Assemblyman John McDonald introduced the Assembly version of the e-prescribing legislation (A.4274 (McDonald)-S.2486 (Hannon)) LeadingAge NY has been tracking, which would extend the implementation date of the e-prescribing mandate to March 27, 2016. LeadingAge NY will discuss this bill on Advocacy Day and inform legislators that nursing homes, assisted living and hospice and palliative care providers need both time and financial investment to be able to effectively work with physicians to implement this mandate. We ask members to contact their lawmakers, urging them to support this important delay to the e-prescribing mandate and to ensure that long term/post-acute care providers have access to capital to improve their health information technology capacity.

In addition, LeadingAge NY will host an audio conference, Electronic Prescribing in Long Term Care, on Tues., Feb. 17 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The session will review the basic principles of electronic prescribing, I-STOP (Internet System for Tracking Over-Prescribing), as well as discuss the workflow challenges that long term care facilities, assisted living and home and community based services are facing when prescribing both legend and controlled substance prescriptions and taking verbal orders. Click here to register and learn more.

LeadingAge NY Provides Testimony at Health Hearing
Ami Schnauber, LeadingAge NY’s VP of advocacy and public policy, presented testimony at the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Health. The testimony focused on a number of key elements in the Governor’s proposed budget that LeadingAge NY is monitoring, including: value-based payments; the role of the advanced home health aide; the MLTC transportation carve-out; cuts to EQUAL funding for ACFs; and the $30 million cut to CHHAs by rebasing episodic payments. Read LeadingAge NY’s entire written testimony here. LeadingAge NY will also submit testimony to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on Housing.

Assembly Elects New Speaker, Committee Assignments Released
Assemblyman Carl E. Heastie was elected by his colleagues, on Tuesday, to serve as Speaker of the New York State Assembly. In his first interview, Speaker Heastie said that he will work “to bring a more inclusive leadership style to the State Assembly.” Following the elections, Speaker Heastie released the long awaited leadership and committee assignments. Asm. Steven Cymbrowitz of Brooklyn will now serve as the chairman of the Assembly Aging Committee following Asm. Joan Millman’s retirement. In addition, Asm. Andrew Hevesi will serve as chairman of the Social Services Committee. Asm. Joe Morelle of Rochester will continue serving as Assembly Majority Leader.

Contact: Alyssa Lovelace, alovelace@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8844