DOH Announces Change in SNALR Voucher Demonstration Program Payment

The Department of Health (DOH) has announced a change in the voucher payment for enrollees of the Special Needs Assisted Living Residence (SNALR) Voucher Demonstration Program. See the below message to providers, which outlines the change. Questions regarding this change should be directed to DOH's Rick Goldfarb at rick.goldfarb@health.ny.gov.

Dear Provider,

Effective April 1, 2020, a voucher payment change will be made for current and future enrollees of the Special Needs Assisted Living Residence Voucher Demonstration Program for Persons with Dementia. The Voucher Program was intended to supplement a resident’s monthly service fee. It was not the Department’s intention for voucher payments to fully absorb a resident’s financial commitment to the Assisted Living Facility. As such, in instances where the voucher calculation amount equals 90 percent or greater than the resident’s monthly service fee, the voucher amount issued will be capped at no more than 90 percent of the monthly service fee.

By no later than March 1, the Department will notify facilities and resident representatives whose voucher payments will be affected by this change and will communicate recalculated voucher amounts to begin April 1, 2020.

The example below outlines this change.

Example: An applicant who resides in Western New York has been approved for a 75% voucher.

Applicant’s Monthly Facility Service fee:                                                        $4,500

Approved Calculated Voucher Tier:                                                               75%

Average Regional Monthly Cost of Care (Western New York):                    $6,401

In this scenario, the applicant qualifies for a voucher for 75% of the average regional monthly cost of care which equals $4,801 (75% of $6,401). As can be seen, this voucher amount would cover the entire cost of the resident’s service fee of $4,500. Therefore, under the 90 percent cap, the voucher amount issued to this applicant would be $4,050, 90 percent of the facility’s service fee of $4,500.

What does this mean for residents receiving voucher payments?

For voucher recipients currently enrolled in the program, if a resident’s voucher payment exceeds 90% of the monthly service fee, the facility and the resident’s representative will be notified of the new voucher amount. Residents in the program affected by this change should contact their facility administrator to review their payment obligation to the facility.

Contact: Diane Darbyshire, ddarbyshire@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8828