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Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 62
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Reported and committed to finance
- Referred to mental health and developmental disabilities
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Relates to reimbursement of transportation services to and from day habilitation programs for people with developmental disabilities
In Assembly Committee · Mental Health · Sponsor Pamela J. Hunter
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to the reimbursement of transportation services to and from day habilitation programs for people with developmental disabilities
Purpose or general idea of bill
This legislation would assure that reimbursement provided by OPWDD for transportation to and from licensed day habilitation sites is based on certified financial information that is no more than one year old, and is reimbursed on equal monthly payments.
Summary of specific provisions
The Commissioner of OPWDD in collaboration with DOH shall develop a plan to assure that transportation reimbursement to providers of day habilitation services to and from transportation is based on provider specific independently certified financial data that is from the preceding fiscal year and is reimbursed to the provider monthly on 1112th of the amount expended during the immediate preceding fiscal year and is increased based on applicable trend factors.
The plan shall also include proposals to recognizes the complexity of transporting individuals with developmental disabilities, including the need for on vehicle supervision, recognize the need to reduce travel time to less than sixty minutes for day habilitation and recognize the need for training in and use of public transportation as appropriate.
Justification
There have been widespread complaints that since funding by the NYS Office for Persons with Developmental Disabilities for transportation to and from day habilitation program sites is based on financial data that is not contemporaneous with current costs, providers are unable to reduce the length of time traveling to and from day habilitation sites. In those situations where providers have reduced travel time, for their day habilitation participants, their costs have increased, resulting in unreimbursed costs for these services. Compounding this problem, rate rationalization reimbursement is based on a per day per person methodology, which is inconsistent with the many situations where providers must contract for transportation services paid for based on a per vehicle per day charge.
Providers of day habilitation services are currently reimbursed for a day of service to an individual, while the costs for transportation is incurred based on a per vehicle used per day charge. Absenteeism creates revenue shortfalls.
As individual participants age their ability to board and exit buses becomes more complex, resulting in more travel time for remaining riders. Also, some individuals with physical impairments require extra time to board and exit vehicles. In these situations and those where individuals with behavioral challenges ride these vehicles travel time becomes lengthened.
Prior legislative history
New Bill.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.