Legislative Bulletin: Nursing Home Rebasing & Role of the Nurse Bills Advance in Final Weeks of Session

May 19, 2023

ACTION ALERT: Urge Legislators to Co-Sponsor Nursing Home Rebasing Legislation!

There are three weeks remaining of the 2023 Legislative Session, and we are hearing that next week will reflect the final health committee meetings of the year. Fortunately, this week Senator Rivera introduced legislation to require the more frequent rebasing of nursing home Medicaid rates [A.5905-A (Woerner)/S.6914 (Rivera)], and that bill is included on the Senate Health Committee agenda for May 23^rd. The bill would require New York State’s Department of Health (DOH) to update nursing home Medicaid rates at least every five years, in consultation with a workgroup that includes technical experts in nursing home rate setting. As of this writing, there is no Assembly Health Committee agenda yet posted, but we hope that the bill may be reflected on that Assembly Health agenda as well.

LeadingAge New York strongly encourages nursing home members to reach out to State Senate and Assembly offices to urge your legislators to sign-on to the bill as a co-sponsor. If your legislator is already listed as a Senate co-sponsor or Assembly co-sponsor, we encourage you to still call the offices and ask that they contact legislative leadership to express their support and desire to see the bill brought to the floor for a vote.

Please take a moment to call your State Senator and Assembly Member TODAY or MONDAY and urge them to support and advocate for the passage of nursing home rebasing legislation. Click here to easily find your legislator’s contact information and use the below talking points to help inform your phone call or voice message.

Nursing Home Rebasing Talking Points - A.5905-A (Woerner)/S.6914 (Rivera):

I am calling today to urge you to provide a long-term solution to the chronic underfunding of nursing homes and long-term care!
I ask that you support bill A.5905-A /S.6914 by signing on as a co-sponsor and urging legislative leadership to make this bill a top priority for the remainder of 2023 legislative session.
This year, nursing home families, staff and providers like myself from across the state urged the legislature to provide a 20% Medicaid increase for nursing homes.
We requested a 20% increase 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%, conservatively.
To solve the root of the problem, the Legislature should require the State to update nursing home Medicaid rates at least every 5 years to better reflect current costs. This can be accomplished with nursing home “rebasing”– as proposed by Assembly Bill A.5905 (Woerner) and Senate Bill S.6914 (Rivera).
I thank the Legislature for proposing and fighting for a 10% Medicaid increase for nursing homes in this year’s budget, and I am grateful for the investments that were ultimately provided in the final agreement. But, without a long-term solution, we will find ourselves in the same position again every year.
Please remember, today there are 6,000 fewer nursing home beds available than there were in 2019, and older adults are being turned away for the care they need due to underfunding and staffing shortages.
We need a long-term solution, and we need the Legislature’s support to get us there.
I urge you and your colleagues to make this legislation a top priority for the remainder of session!

After you place your phone call, please also take a moment to copy & paste the below message on Twitter & other social media platforms! Download & save this graphic to include it in your social media post.

Nursing home Medicaid rates haven't been updated for inflation since 2008. Staffing challenges in nursing homes are linked to outdated rates and directly impact access to care. NY needs a long-term solution. @AndreaSCousins @CarlHeastie Please pass NH rebasing bill A.5905/S.6914!

ACTION ALERT: Urge Legislators to Support Role of the Nurse in ACF

Another LeadingAge NY priority bill that is moving in these final weeks of session is the “Role of the Nurse” in adult care facilities (ACF) legislation A.5670 (Solages)/S.5471 (Rivera). The bill would allow nurses that are employed by an ACF or assisted living facility to provide temporary but necessary nursing services to their residents. This 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. At the same time, it allows for a community to reserve emergency response for those instances where the resident truly needs to go to the emergency room, or when there is an emergency in the larger community. 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.

Fortunately, this bill has been added to the Senate Finance Committee agenda for next week, and if approved by the committee, will advance to the Senate Floor for a vote. This is a critical time for your legislators to hear from you! CLICK HERE to send a digital advocacy letter to your elected officials, urging them to support the Role of the Nurse in ACF legislation!

May Public Affairs Council Meeting Recording – Members Only

Thank you to those that were able to join us for yesterday’s May Public Affairs Council Meeting! For those that were not available to join us, a meeting recording is available for members only on our Public Affairs Council Website.

As we discussed yesterday, there are 3 weeks remaining of the 2023 legislative session and we are expecting legislative bill movement and activity to ramp up exponentially over the coming days and weeks. Things are changing daily, and we’ve already seen more priority bill activity since we spoke yesterday at 3 pm. Next week will be the last Health Committee meetings of the year, so we hear. As such, those final health agendas are expected to be lengthy. There is no Assembly Health agenda posted for next week yet, but the Senate Health agenda for May 23^rd is already posted and includes LeadingAge NY priority legislation on nursing home rebasing.

The next Public Affairs Council meeting is scheduled for June 22^nd at 3 PM. If you would like to join us for that meeting and receive corresponding materials, be sure you sign up for the council here! As we look ahead to post-session activities, please let us know if there are public relations, press or social media resources that you would find helpful. We are happy to support you in your press and advocacy work!

Stay Engaged in LeadingAge NY Coordinated Advocacy!

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 8^th, and over the next 3 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 is working on. 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. Please take a moment to send these digital advocacy letters to your legislators! It only takes a few clicks!

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.

LeadingAge NY Letter to DOH on End of Federal Public Health Emergency

With the conclusion of the federal public health emergency, there remain many questions in the long-term and post-acute care community regarding how these changes will impact providers and patients/residents, given state-specific requirements. This week, LeadingAge NY wrote a letter to the Department of Health Commissioner James McDonald, urging the state to revisit several issues in light of the significant progress made with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The letter to the Commissioner urges the state to modify or eliminate the daily HERDS survey, update masking guidance, and work to extend certain workforce flexibilities that have been integral to provider operations over the last several years.

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.

*Please Note: LeadingAge NY will not be holding the weekly COVID-19 update call on May 22nd due to our LeadingAge NY Annual Conference.

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