End‐of‐Session Wrap Up: Home Care, Hospice and MLTC After a long week of negotiations, the state Senate and Assembly adjourned in the early morning hours of Friday, June 21. The Legislature passed a flurry of bills in marathon sessions, including a number of the Legislature and Executives’ key priorities for the 2019‐20 Legislative Session. Overarching priorities include first‐ of‐its‐kind legislation related to climate change, as well as legislation addressing rent control, sexual harassment, eliminating the religious exemption for vaccinations, providing licenses for undocumented immigrants and expanding wages for farmworkers. HCA held a strong presence in the Capitol since January and was successful in advancing a number of the Association’s legislative priorities including legislation related to certified home health agency (CHHA) reimbursement, in‐service requirements and the state’s first‐of‐its kind home care sepsis initiative. Below is an analysis of the legislation HCA advanced and tracked throughout the 2019 Legislative Session. For questions or concerns about the legislation included in this document, please contact Alyssa Lovelace at alovelace@hcanys.org.
PASSED BOTH HOUSES
Bill
Description
A.3839 (McDonald)/S.1817 (Rivera)
Creates a new article 36 section devoted to home care sepsis intervention that would authorize the state Department of Health to provide support for HCA’s statewide efforts in numerous ways
A.7854 (Gottfried)/S.5605 (Rivera)
Requires the record of each in‐service training and hours completed by the worker toward the fulfillment of his/her annual in‐service training requirements be submitted for inclusion in the Home Care Registry (HCR) for each worker by the agency conducting the in‐service.
Flexibility Under LHCSA Moratorium
A.976 (Gottfried)/S.1820 (Rivera)
Clarifies the intent of the legislature that the Commissioner of Health has broad discretion to place applications before the PHHPC during the moratorium on LHCSA approval.
Automatic enrollment and recertification simplification
A.7578‐A (Gottfried)/S. 5485‐A
Shortens and simplifies Medicaid long term care eligibility processes for Medicaid eligible recipients.
Sepsis (HCA‐developed)
In‐service Training (HCA‐developed)