Enacts the "home care stabilization act"

1 Co-sponsor

• Jack M. Martins

BILL NUMBER:S2902

Title of bill

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to enacting the "home care stabilization act"

Purpose

The Home Care Stabilization Act will address the home care fiscal crisis by ensuring managed long term care contracts support wage parity and providing for prompt payments.

Summary of provisions

Section one provides that this act shall be known as the Home Care Stabilization Act.

Section two amends the Public Health Law (PHL) by adding a new 3614-d to provide standards for prompt, fair and equitable settlement of claims for payments for personal care, home health care services, consumer directed personal assistance services or other long term care services.

Section three adds a new 4406-c(9) to the PHL to ensure that funds made available to licensed home care service programs, certified home health agencies, long term home health care programs and consumer directed personal assistance services through contracts with health care plans shall provide compensation sufficient to satisfy the statutory provisions set forth in Section 3614-c, the wage parity law.

Section four provides that this act shall take effect immediately.

Justification

This legislation aims to stabilize the home health care system in New York which has been hit with hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts, unfunded wage mandates, the transition to managed long term care, a devastating storm and rate recoupments in 2012 of $250 million. Providers, workers and patients are shifting into a new system of managed long term care with fewer resources meanwhile working hard to maintain the high quality of home care which New York State is regarded for across the country.

Currently, agencies seeking to pay wage parity rates are not guaranteed the proper payment amounts by managed long term care entities. In addition, agencies are reporting exploding accounts receivables from lags in the payment of claims under managed care and the frequent rejection of the payment of claims. This together with State's Medicaid rate recoupment efforts have lead many agencies into financial crisis impacting workers and more importantly the patients they serve.

This legislation attempts to assist patients, workers and providers in keeping the promise to people facing illness or disability - maintaining their independence in the comfort, security and privacy of their homes.

Specifically, the legislation works to ensure worker's wages under the wage parity law are supported in payments to home health care agencies by managed long term care plans and mandates that managed long term care plans must pay clean claims promptly.

Legislative history

2013-2014: S.3966-B

Fiscal implications

No net fiscal impact as this legislation will not reduce the amounts recouped.

Effective date

Immediately.