New DOH LHCSA Survey Issued
On Mon., June 22, 2020, the Department of Health (DOH) launched the Licensed Home Care Services Agency (LHCSA) Health Emergency Response Data System (HERDS) Survey to obtain needed information from LHCSAs to implement Part B of Chapter 57 of the Laws of 2018, which requires that applications for licensure not be approved unless there is public need. The public need methodology includes a rebuttable presumption of no need for additional LHCSAs in a county if there are five or more LHCSAs actively serving patients within the county as of April 1, 2020. DOH's notice on the survey is available here.
LHCSAs are asked to provide the following for each county in which they are operating and each site within a county:
- The number of unduplicated patients served in each county in which they operate from April 1, 2019 to April 1, 2020; and
- The number of patients on the agency roster who had a care plan in place on April 1, 2020 and resided in the county chosen.
LHCSAs working solely with or in Assisted Living Programs (ALPs), Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), Nurse Family Partnerships (NFPs), or Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) should not enter their patient or resident data in the survey. However, LHCSAs serving any of these program participants who also serve patients outside of the programs should enter the counts of patients served in the community who are not in the ALP, PACE, NFP, or CCRC.
We have been in communication with the Department regarding our concern that the data collected in March and April, as well as the snapshot of patients actively being served on April 1st, may be skewed due to COVID-19. As members know, March and April saw significant refusals of care, changes in plans of care, and a decrease in admissions. DOH has advised that even though agencies may have put cases on hold during that time and on April 1st, if a plan of care was in place for a patient, that patient is considered one that is being actively served and should be reported on the survey.
Survey data is due by COB Mon., June 29, 2020. Questions should be addressed to hcstatrpts@health.ny.gov. Please contact LeadingAge NY if you have questions or concerns.
Contact: Meg Everett, meverett@leadingageny.org, 518-929-9342