LeadingAge NY met with NYS Department of Health (DOH) staff last week for our biweekly provider association meeting. DOH provided updates on the safe staffing process. The Department is currently reaching out to some providers for additional information and working on streamlining the process for documentation submissions related to future penalty reduction requests. Some providers have asked for, and been granted, extensions for submitting this information. Those being asked for additional information have been provided with a document outlining the information on which DOH is focused. (More on that is available here). They noted that no penalties have been issued as of yet.

The Department noted recent outages for Health Emergency Response Data System (HERDS) submissions and that a submission button is sometimes not available during processing. The Department is working on this issue and urges members to reach out to the nursing home and adult care facility (ACF) email BMLs. Providers also communicated to the Department that when the system is down, DOH should notify the associations so that providers are aware of the situation.

DOH noted that the Master Plan for Aging (MPA) Team has established a survey for public input in the MPA process. This will complement the NYS Office for the Aging (SOFA) survey recently completed. The survey is available here.

Mark Furnish, Director of the Center for LTC Licensure, Planning, and Finance, asked providers for input as the Department reviews need methodologies for Assisted Living Programs (ALPs) and updates regulations and policies related to licensure for Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), and hospice. LeadingAge NY urges members to reach out to us with any suggestions you may have.

The Department noted that it has paused its tours of facilities and provider settings at this time, possibly due to COVID and staffing challenges within the Department.

While the mechanism is not yet clear, Department staff indicated that work is underway on an application for Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program funding.

Contact: Meg Everett, meverett@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871