Legislative Bulletin: LeadingAge NY Calls on DOH to Revise Testing Requirements
May 21, 2021
LeadingAge NY Calls on DOH to Revise Testing Requirements
As New York State’s COVID community infection rates decline and vaccination levels increase, LeadingAge New York is calling on the state Department of Health (DOH) to revise its COVID testing and reporting requirements for long-term care providers. In a letter advanced on May 17th to Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, LeadingAge New York urges the DOH to follow federal guidance and eliminate weekly and twice-weekly testing of vaccinated and recently recovered nursing home and adult care facility (ACF) staff.
Following the advancement of the letter, LeadingAge NY issued a press release on the matter, attracting media attention. In a Spectrum News article published on Thursday, LeadingAge NY President and CEO Jim Clyne’s letter to DOH is quoted, pointing out that reduced testing would have the potential to encourage vaccine rates among nursing home staff. “Eliminating serial testing for these personnel would create a strong incentive for hesitant staff to accept the vaccine and would align with the scientific research and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance," he wrote in the letter.
In related news, this week Senator Jeremy Cooney introduced bill S.6601-B, which would reduce nursing home and assisted living staff testing to once a week for vaccinated staff, and maintain twice a week for unvaccinated staff. For employees not interacting directly with residents, testing would be reduced to once a month for vaccinated staff and twice a month for unvaccinated staff. While we thank Senator Cooney for his work on this issue and for his support of long-term care providers, we feel that this well-intended bill must go further to fully align with CMS guidance. LeadingAge NY will be working with Senator Cooney and his colleagues on this initiative in the coming weeks.
Ask Lawmakers to Assist in Reducing Testing Requirements
LeadingAge NY is continuing to make the reduction of testing requirements for nursing homes and assisted living a priority for the remainder of session. While we continue to work with the Department of Health on this issue, members are encouraged to contact their lawmakers and ask them to support our efforts and urge the Department to revise testing requirements and to adopt federal CMS guidance. Your advocacy will be essential in helping to bring attention to these important issues. Click here to send your lawmakers a letter today!
Additionally, if you haven’t already done so, please take a few minutes TODAY to share the following messages with your legislators on Facebook and Twitter:
Facebook Message:
[@legislator], please join me and @LeadingAgeNY in urging @NYSDOH and @GovernorAndrewCuomo to eliminate serial COVID-19 testing for vaccinated and recently recovered nursing home/ACF staff and reduce burdensome COVID-19-related data collection requirements. https://bit.ly/3eYZkZl
Twitter Message:
.[@legislator], please join me & @LeadingAgeNY in urging @HealthNYGov & @NYGovCuomo to eliminate serial #COVID19 testing for vaccinated & recently recovered nursing home/ACF staff & reduce burdensome #COVID19-related data collection requirements. https://bit.ly/3eYZkZl
New Bill Limits Senior Housing Lease Terminations and Rent Increases
Earlier this week, bill A.5970 (Burdick)/S.1106 (Stewart-Cousins), which would prohibit the termination of tenancy for seniors residing in certain housing facilities, was placed on the Senate floor calendar. According to the legislation, if 80% or more of the lessees or tenants occupying units in a rental building (defined as a building with 20 or more residential units) are over the age of sixty-five and/or are persons with disabilities, landlords would be required to receive court approval before terminating a lease agreement, failing to renew a lease agreement, or otherwise terminating a tenancy that is not subject to a lease agreement, unless they are doing so as a result of a tenant’s lease violation.
In determining whether to grant this approval, the court would be directed to consider:
- Whether the landlord is operating the rental building at a profit or loss;
- The need for any major capital repairs or improvements that cannot be performed while the tenants are in occupancy;
- Any written or oral representations made by the landlord to tenants about how long they could remain in occupancy;
- Any alternative housing being offered by the landlord;
- The number of affected tenants; and
- The length of time the affected tenants have lived in their apartments.
Landlords would be required to notify all lessees and tenants of the rental building who are over the age of sixty-five and/or are persons with disabilities of the filing of such an action if it would affect more than one lease. At the time of filing, the landlord would also be required to notify the village, town, city, and county. While such an action was pending, the landlord would be required to notify any prospective lessee or tenants of the action before they signed a lease agreement.
The second part of the bill would prohibit landlords in these buildings from increasing the rent by more than 1% above the percentage change in the consumer price index since either the start of the tenancy or the most recent renewal, whichever is more recent at the time of the lease renewal. Landlords would be prohibited from increasing the rent more than once annually.
Notification to lessees and tenants of the above provisions would be required, and a landlord would be liable for reasonable costs, including reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses, for any violation of those provisions.
LeadingAge NY has significant concerns with this legislation and are working on crafting a memo of opposition. We strongly encourage our housing members to contact your lawmakers, specifically your Senator, and express how this bill would affect your organization and impair your ability to function as a non-profit, mission driven senior housing provider.
Talking Points:
- Senior housing providers infrequently terminate a tenancy, but at times they need the ability to make these decisions to protect seniors from potentially dangerous or hazardous living conditions.
- This is an added expense for affordable housing providers who already struggle with the costs of operating an affordable property.
- Senior housing need flexibility in setting rent costs.
We will likely have more advocacy action items on this bill in the weeks, depending on the bill’s movement. If members have questions, they are encouraged to contact our policy team.
Urge Lawmakers to Support LHCSA RFO Repealer
The LHCSA Request for Offers (RFO) repealer legislation, A.7304 (Gottfried)/ S.6640 (May), would repeal last year's budget language which establishes a Request for Offers (RFO) authorization process for all Licensed Home Care Services Agencies (LHCSAs) delivering Medicaid services. A LHCSA RFO process, if implemented, would allow the State to arbitrarily cap the number of LHCSAs providing Medicaid services in the state, and likely deny many eligible and reputable LHCSAs currently delivering Medicaid services from continuing to operate. This will cause significant disruption to home care services and potentially create barriers to care when more and more people are relying on care and services in the home as people age in place in their homes and the community.
LeadingAge NY’s memo of support on the legislation is available here. We urge member LHCSAs to email their legislators in support of this bill TODAY! Click here to urge lawmakers to support A.7304/S.6640!
Urge Lawmakers to Provide Financial Relief to ACF/AL
New York’s senior living providers have incurred hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses to procure gowns, gloves, masks, and other infection control supplies, to provide well-deserved hero pay to staff, to hire additional staff, and to provide weekly staff testing as mandated by DOH. Additionally, declining occupancy rates due to temporary discontinuation of admissions and limitations on visitation resulted in substantial revenue losses.
In recognition of the critical role all ACFs/ALRs/ALPs play in the long-term care continuum, LeadingAge New York, Argentum NY, Empire State Association of Assisted Living (ESAAL) and NYSCAL are urging the Legislature to provide a one-time request of $75 million to help preserve these essential services for New York’s seniors and their families.
CLICK HERE to urge lawmakers to provide critical financial relief to New York’s ACFs, ALRs and ALPs!
Urge Congress to Invest in Our Aging Infrastructure
Aging services are an essential part of the nation’s infrastructure. There are 52 million people over age 65, a population that is expected to double by 2040. Right now, we don’t have the infrastructure for aging services that we need—and the systems we do have are crumbling. The COVID-19 pandemic made clear the tragic human consequences that can happen when our systems are weak.
It is no longer acceptable that our health care system largely ignores a set of services that half of older adults need or will need in our country.
LeadingAge National’s Blueprint for a Better Aging Infrastructure is a set of recommendations that address the economic, social, and racial inequities older Americans face by:
- Expanding access to long-term care at home and in our communities.
- Increasing affordable housing for older adults
- Investing in the physical and technological infrastructure of aging services—including high-speed broadband access.
The blueprint, which LeadingAge has shared with Congress, also addresses the fundamental need to better support and grow our aging services workforce. Please help us build awareness and support for these recommendations by asking Congress to invest in these vital programs today!
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