State Extends Universal Settlement Exclusion List Deadline

As part of the Universal Settlement of Litigation and Appeals, nursing homes are required to submit to the Department of Health (DOH) a listing of appeals and litigation that are excluded from the settlement. Items not expressly identified as excluded will be deemed included in the settlement. DOH will review the submitted lists to ensure that listed items are indeed excluded based on their established criteria. Please note that there is no need to list any NYAHSA/LeadingAge NY litigations in your submission; base price reduction is being handled outside of universal settlement and the rest are considered included in the settlement.

To help expedite the process, LeadingAge NY and other associations developed and distributed guidance and forms for reporting excluded items. Members should submit the forms to us and we will transmit them to DOH. Information and the exclusion form may be downloaded here. Thank you to members who already submitted their forms.    

DOH has extended the deadline for submitting exclusion lists by one week to Sun., March 8. While the extension will help those homes facing difficulty in completing their lists in the short timeframe presented, an important reason for the delay is the lack of clarification on some key issues regarding exclusions that DOH was to provide last week. We expect that the clarifications will confirm our understanding of the exclusions, but will distribute any information as soon as it is received. 

DOH suggested the possibility that providers who are not able to recreate their old appeal files, may be able to visit DOH offices to view and copy their submitted appeals. This process would require the provider to make an appointment with DOH and to travel to Albany to make copies of their appeal materials in DOH offices. Only those members who are unable to complete the exclusions list without such access should contact Richard J. Zahnleuter, the director of the bureau of litigation in the DOH division of legal affairs, at richard.zahnleuter@health.ny.gov to learn more of this potential opportunity.        

We urge all members, including those that do not have any excluded items, to submit the exclusion form to us as soon as possible. Again, there is no need to list any NYAHSA/LeadingAge NY litigations in your submission; the base price reduction is being handled outside of universal settlement and the rest are considered included in the settlement.

Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8841