Legislative Bulletin: Countdown to Advocacy Day

In examining the Governor’s SFY 2019-2020 Executive Budget Proposal, grassroots advocacy is more important than ever.

Advocacy Day Issue Briefs Now Available

The February 5th LeadingAge NY/Adult Day Health Care Council/Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State Advocacy Day is now just four days away! If you haven’t already, there is still time to register and set up meetings with your legislators or their top staff. It is also always possible to pull your legislator’s “off the floor” during session. As lawmakers begin to develop their one-house budget priorities, they need to know how your organization and those you serve will be impacted.

Detailed issue briefs as well as our general budget initiatives brief, will be distributed directly with registrants on Monday. LeadingAge New York’s nursing home issue brief, the WIN4Seniors handout, and all other materials once available can be found here.

If you are not able to come to Albany on Tuesday, we encourage you to use these resources and schedule meetings with your legislators in their district offices. Lawmakers are typically in their district offices on Thursdays and Fridays and will be on recess from Feb. 18th to 22nd. The importance of connecting with your legislators early and often during state budget negotiations cannot be overstated. You can click here to find your legislator and schedule a meeting today!

Advocacy Day attendees who were unable to join the prep call should review the following logistics:

We will be in Meeting Room 5 on the Empire State Plaza in Albany. Parking information can be found here, and a map of the Empire State Plaza Indoor Concourse is available here. LeadingAge NY, the Adult Day Health Care Council, and the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State will have signs directing attendees to the Meeting Room.

Registration and breakfast will begin at 8 am. We will be set up outside the entrance to Meeting Room 5. Nametags and printed handouts will be provided.

Attendees may leave their coats and belongings in the Meeting Room during legislative meetings.

There will be a briefing in the morning at 9am.

Lunch will be served from 12 to 1 pm.

The Meeting Room is reserved until 5 pm.

Lastly, when you are attending your meetings, please remember the power of social media! Before, during or after your meetings, we encourage you to connect with your legislators by posting and tagging them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You can thank them for their time, mention issues discussed, and/or use our hashtags #SupportOurSeniors and #WIN4Seniors. It is also a great idea to take a photo or two to share.

Announcing the WIN4Seniors Campaign!

It is not news to our membership that there has been a growing and compounding workforce crisis in the long-term care industry, across the board. The inability to hire sufficient aides and professionals has resulted in long waiting lists for certain community-based services, inability to fill authorized home care hours, inability to admit nursing home residents with complex medical conditions and/or high supervision needs, and reliance on overtime and staffing agencies.

In considering this crisis, LeadingAge New York has created the Workforce Investment Now for Seniors, WIN4Seniors, campaign – a campaign drawing attention to the severe workforce shortage and other regulatory issues putting strain on LTC providers. With this campaign, LeadingAge New York is asking that the governor and/or state legislature appropriate $50 million in the budget to support initiatives to train, recruit, and retain the LTPAC workforce, reject the requirement that home care aides obtain NPI numbers and fully fund, expedite, and improve the criminal history record check process.

A copy of our WIN4Seniors handout is linked here.

Safe Staffing Bill Reintroduced in the Senate and Assembly

The SFY 2019-2020 Budget Briefing book released in January indicated that DOH will conduct a study that will evaluate the impact of staffing on patient safety and the quality of health care delivery. LeadingAge New York supports the study and will review its findings once completed. The conduction of a study indicates that the governor nor the legislature will be addressing the nurse staffing debate during budget negotiations.

While nurse staffing ratios is not likely to be handled in the budget, the issue is sure to be fiercely debated on the Senate and Assembly floor with last week’s reintroduction of the “Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act” (A.2954/S.1032). In the midst of a shortage of nurses and an LTC workforce crisis, the bill would create specific staffing ratios for nurses and other direct-care staff in hospitals and nursing homes. LeadingAge New York opposed this legislation in 2018 and, with a new Senate Democratic Majority, it will need to be opposed vigorously this year.

You can send your legislator a message now, urging them to oppose the bill and consider the impact of staffing ratios on nursing home providers in their district.

Understand the Impact of Proposed Budget Cuts

The single largest cut proposed in the Executive Budget would alter how nursing home Medicaid rates are adjusted for acuity. The state expects the provision to save the state $122.8 Million annually, suggesting a provider impact of $245.6 million. While the impact will vary from home to home, on average it would reduce Medicaid rates by more than $9 per day.

To assist members in estimating the magnitude of the cut on their home, LeadingAge NY has developed a template that can be downloaded here. While the Case Mix Index (CMI) used in the Medicaid rate would continue to be updated twice a year, the updates would be based on more complete data than results from the process used until 2018 that relies on two picture dates per year.

We urge members to be aware of the potential financial impact of this change on their organization and be prepared to strongly advocate against this significant reduction. Please feel free to use the template above in your individual advocacy efforts and meetings.

LeadingAge New York’s Comprehensive Executive Budget Analysis

This week, LeadingAge NY published a memo summarizing in detail the health, Medicaid, and housing proposals included in the Governor’s SFY 2019-2020 Executive Budget. The document provides more detailed information on proposals affecting multiple service lines, service line-specific proposals, and other initiatives relevant to aging services providers.

Have you Sent your Legislators Letters?

You can click on any of the below links to bring priority issues to your legislator’s attention:

Ami Schnauber, aschnauber@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8854

Sarah Daly, sdaly@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8845