What's happening
This bill requires New York to promote and integrate home care services into public health and prevention efforts, addressing priority areas like disease prevention, cost savings, and health disparities.
Why it matters
Broadens the role of home care in tackling major public health issues. by explicitly naming areas like sepsis, asthma, opioid misuse, diabetes, and health disparities—positioning home care as a proactive partner in prevention and early intervention, not just post-acute care.
Creates incentives, training, and support for home care agencies. to voluntarily participate in these public health initiatives, including possible supplemental reimbursement and shared savings from any proven cost reductions—potentially making home care more financially sustainable and attractive to providers.
Mandates collaboration and feedback from a wide range of stakeholders. (home care, physicians, public health officials), aiming for well-rounded policy development and practical implementation, which could increase buy-in and effectiveness.
Requires data collection and legislative reporting on the impacts of these initiatives. , including cost savings and recommendations—potentially building an evidence base to shape future health policy and funding decisions.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Integrate Home Care in Prevention
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Reported and committed to finance
- Referred to health
- Returned to senate
- Died in assembly
- Referred to health
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 60–1
- Ordered to third reading cal.1237
- Committee discharged and committed to rules
- Reported and committed to finance
- Referred to health
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.
Integrate Home Care in Prevention
In Assembly Committee · Health · Sponsor John T. McDonald III
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1816
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 16, 2019
Introduced by Sen. RIVERA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to integrating home care into the state's public health and prevention efforts
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 3620-a to read as follows:
§ 3620-a. Public health priority initiatives. 1. The commissioner shall promote home care's integration into the state's health continuum strategy to address public health priorities in disease prevention, intervention, population health improvement, associated health care cost reduction and research. Such integrated roles for home care shall be promoted and incentivized on an agency voluntary basis. The commissioner shall undertake these purposes through:
(a) Incorporation of home care agency direct care and care management competencies in the department's prevention, primary care and public health strategies;
(b) Promulgation of departmental guidance documents that describe and assist home care agencies in exercising these roles;
(c) Promotion of evidence-based, best practices in public health and prevention for use by home care agencies;
(d) Providing opportunities for home care staff training in public health priority areas in the department's various training and educational programs for the health workforce and/or health care providers;
(e) Regulatory and procedural flexibility to optimize public health triage and intervention by home care;
(f) Providing or making available public health and epidemiological data for home care agency use in identifying, targeting and shaping intervention;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00720-01-9
S. 1816 2
(g) To the extent of available funds, and upon approval of the director of the budget, reimbursement supplementation to rates or premiums issued under section thirty-six hundred fourteen of this article or section forty-four hundred three-f of this chapter, respectively;
(h) Promotion of public health priority collaboratives under section twenty-eight hundred five-x of this chapter; and
(i) Other means the commissioner determines appropriate.
2. Priority public health areas under this section may include, but not be limited to:
(a) Sepsis education, patient screening and early intervention;
(b) Asthma and respiratory condition management, including home environmental assessment;
(c) Falls prevention screening, education and prevention;
(d) Opioid management and overuse or abuse prevention, including alternatives in pain management, and programs in palliative care;
(e) Medication management, including in care transitions and polypharmacy populations;
(f) Pressure ulcer prevention and mitigation;
(g) Diabetes;
(h) Obesity;
(i) Cardiovascular health;
(j) Health care disparities;
(k) High risk prenatal and post-partum care;
(l) Immunizations; and
(m) Other priority areas in population health, and in the related social determinants of health, that the commissioner may designate.
3. In implementing this section, the commissioner shall seek the advice of representatives of home care providers, state associations representative of home care, state associations representative of physicians, state associations representative of county public health services and others with home care and/or public health expertise whom the commissioner may designate.
4. The commissioner is authorized to calculate cost savings achieved from public health initiatives through home care which the commissioner shall determine applicable, and upon approval of the state budget director, may provide a portion of which as shared savings reinvestment to participating providers. Such shared savings may be provided through supplementation of their medical assistance reimbursement, or other means which the commissioner determines.
5. The department shall collect and report to the legislature information on the activities and impact of home care public health initiatives as the department determines relevant, including information on cost savings, and shall include recommendations for further support of the goals of this section. This report shall be provided within eighteen months of the effective date of this section.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately. Effective immediately the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made on or before such date.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to integrating home care into the state's public health and prevention efforts
Purpose
To amend the Public Health Law, in relation to addressing priority public health needs of the state through strategic integration of home care services and skills.
Summary of provisions
Section one of the bill adds a new section 3620-a to the Public Health Law to promote strategic integration of home care skills and capacities into the state's health continuum strategy to address public health priorities in disease prevention, intervention, population health improvement, associated health care cost reduction and research. The section establishes that priority public health areas may include sepsis, asthma, diabetes, health disparities, obesity, polypharmacy, falls, pressure injuries, and other areas associated with major health consequences and costs. It directs the commissioner to seek advice from home care and/or public health expertise, authorizes the commissioner to calculate cost-savings from home care intervention initiatives and, upon state budget director approval, to reinvest a portion of the "shared savings of the state into the home care public health effort. Lastly, it directs the department to report its findings to the Legislature within 18 months following enactment.
Read the full memo (641 words)
Section two of the bill establishes the effective date.
Justification
This legislation directs the department of health to promote public health priorities and initiatives through the integration of home care. Disease prevention, management and health promotion are priorities for individual and population health, as well as for the public and private costs of health care. Sepsis, asthma and heart health are amongst the prevalent and high costing examples targeted in the bill.
Sepsis is an individual and public health emergency. Alarmingly, sepsis is the body's dysregulated, life-threatening response to an infection. Sepsis is the number one cause of hospital deaths, number one hospital expense in the country ($2.7 billion annually), number one in hospital 30 day readmissions, and number one in Medicaid avoidable hospital expense in NYS. Every two minutes someone dies of sepsis, every 20 minutes someone is hospitalized with sepsis, and one in four discharged from sepsis care are hospitalized within 30 days. 80 - 90% of sepsis related infections occur in home and community settings. Sepsis can often be prevented, and when symptoms are identified early, it can be treated successfully. Home care initiatives provides the perfect oppor- tunity to reduce sepsis.
Asthma is another. A State Comptroller report estimates $1.3 billion in direct medical costs and lost productivity due to asthma in NYS. The report also indicates that hospitalizations account for $660 million of these costs, a 61% increase since 2002. As of 2012, an estimated 1.4 million adult New Yorkers suffered from asthma, and 315,000 children had asthma in 2010. Home care providers are demonstrating success in preventing and controlling asthma episodes and the hospitalizations and emergencies that would otherwise occur.
Congestive heart failure (CHF) must also be targeted as it is often a revolving door to catastrophic health care costs. Home care has proven effective in averting hospitalizations and emergency visits for patients with CHF, particularly with the use of home telehealth.
Home care agencies and clinicians bring unique competencies and capabil- ities to the public health effort in disease prevention, health promotion, and medical management. Home care agencies and clinicians are in communities, in neighborhoods, in patients' homes, working with fami- lies, and providing and navigating services across the continuum. Home care personnel are assessors of need, care managers, system navigators and health educators. This legislation seeks to access the unique skills and assets offered by home care in addressing priority public health problems, with the aim of bettering health and reducing costs.
Legislative history
2018: S8620 (Hannon)
Fiscal implications
Anticipate savings to state and private payors.
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.