Have You Voted on the Universal Settlement?

We urge all nursing home members to review the terms of the proposed Universal Settlement of Appeals and Litigation, evaluate their estimated payment, inventory their outstanding appeals and litigation and indicate whether their home intends to participate in the settlement or not. This is a non-binding vote that will guide State attorneys as they draft final settlement documents. To esure inclusion of required provisions in the State budget and to increase the possibility of timely CMS approval, the State is providing a very tight timeframe for nursing homes to indicate their interest in participating in the settlement. The brief survey, which DOH requests be completed by this Fri., Jan 9, is acessible here.

LeadingAge NY, along with other associations, held an educational Webinar on the settlement (archived here) and is finalizing a set of frequently asked questions that will be distributed this week.

A memo summarizing the Universal Settlement is available here. Additional resources available to assist each facility in making a decision about Universal Settlement participation (identical to those distributed to members along with their benefit estimates) include:

DOH staff has indicated that while they are able to respond to targeted questions regarding individual appeals, they are not in a position to be able to provide a listing and/or materials regarding all appeals that a home may have on file. Please note that while homes will need to provide a list to DOH of the appeals and litigation that they believe to be outside of the universal settlement agreement, this listing will be due at the time that the final agreement and release are signed. The only action the State is requesting at this time is a considered, but non-binding, yes/no vote.

Contacts: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8383, ext. 104 or Dan Heim, dheim@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8383, ext. 128