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A08944 Summary:

BILL NOA08944
 
SAME ASNo Same As
 
SPONSORWoerner
 
COSPNSR
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd §2808, Pub Health L
 
Provides a waiver for the nursing home ninety percent occupancy calculation for periods where there is a state disaster emergency affecting occupancy, and for two thousand twenty and two thousand twenty-one specifically.
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A08944 Actions:

BILL NOA08944
 
01/30/2024referred to health
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A08944 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A8944
 
SPONSOR: Woerner
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public health law, in relation to providing a waiver for the nursing home occupancy calculation for certain years   PURPOSE: To waive the ninety percent occupancy reimbursement calculation for residential health care facilities from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2022.   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1: amends Public Health Law § 2308(22-a) by adding new para- graphs (e) and (f) to waive the imputed occupancy calculation during future public health emergencies and during the height of the COVID epidemic. Section 2: establishes the effective date.   JUSTIFICATION: This bill provides immediate relief from the "90% Imputation Rule" relating to reimbursement for residential health care facilities. That rule calculates nursing home reimbursement based on "patient days" as determined by the higher number of 90% certified bed occupancy or the actual patient care days provided by the facility. Until the COVID pandemic hit, the formula effectively created a "floor" under which reimbursement calculations did not fall. However, once COVID-19 infil- trated nursing homes throughout the state, nursing home occupancy rates fell drastically due to reduced hospital and community referrals, staff- ing challenges, and stringent emergency requirements implemented by the DOH, including a directive that required a nursing home to isolate COVID patients in separate cohorts using "part of a unit, dedicated floor or wing in the facility or a group of rooms at the end of the unit, such as at the end of a hallway" (DAL NH-20-09, Required Annual Emergency Pandemic Plan for All Nursing Homes).. As a result of these changing conditions, the "90% Imputation Rule" effectively began punishing nurs- ing homes for separating and protecting non-COVID residents from resi- dents with COVID, as the 90% "floor" flipped to be a "ceiling. For many nursing homes, especially those in upstate New York, occupancy rates dropped during the pandemic years from 2020 to 2022. Now because the imputed occupancy rule involves a two-year look back utilizing nurs- ing home cost reports, nursing homes that failed to realize a 90% occu- pancy rate during the pandemic years will incur a cut to their capital reimbursement. Such cut would be in addition to the 5% cut in capital reimbursement that already became effective on April 1, 2020. With Medi- caid rates failing to cover facility operating costs, a failure to waive the imputed occupancy rule for 2021 and 2022 will result in nursing homes facing yet another cut to their reimbursement, negatively impact- ing their ability to recruit and retain staff, pay mortgages and vendors, and much more. This bill seeks to immediately waive the imputed occupancy rule for the pandemic years of 2021 and 2022. Nursing homes should not be punished for protecting residents during the pandemic. It also waives the rule in future state disaster emergencies.   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: This is a new bill.   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined.   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.
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A08944 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          8944
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 30, 2024
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by M. of A. WOERNER -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Health
 
        AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to providing a waiver
          for the nursing home occupancy calculation for certain years
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Subdivision 22-a of section 2808 of the public health law
     2  is amended by adding two new paragraphs (e) and (f) to read as follows:
     3    (e) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of law  or  regulation
     4  to the contrary, the provisions of paragraphs (c) and (d) of this subdi-
     5  vision  shall  not apply where a state disaster emergency, as defined in
     6  section twenty of the executive law, affecting  the  occupancy  of  such
     7  program, occurs within such two year period.
     8    (f)  Notwithstanding  any inconsistent provisions of law or regulation
     9  to the contrary, a failure to achieve ninety  percent  occupancy  during
    10  the  period  from January first, two thousand twenty to December thirty-
    11  first, two thousand twenty-one, shall not reduce the reimbursement  rate
    12  for any residential health care facility.
    13    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
 
 
 
 
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD14050-03-4
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