Establishes an assisted living program reimbursement program to provide enhanced Medicaid reimbursement to qualifying assisted living programs; requires at least 70% of such assisted living facility's staff to voluntarily self-identify as Black, Hispanic, or Asian; increases the capitated rates of payment from 31% to 50% over a period of five years.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9392
IN SENATE
March 9, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. RAMOS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to establishing an
assisted living program reimbursement pilot program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The social services law is amended by adding a new section
2 367-hh to read as follows:
3 § 367-hh. Assisted living program reimbursement pilot program. 1.
4 Establishment of a pilot program. The commissioner shall establish an
5 assisted living program reimbursement pilot program to provide enhanced
6 Medicaid reimbursement to qualifying assisted living programs, as
7 defined in section four hundred sixty-one-l of this chapter.
8 2. Eligibility. To be eligible for participation in the pilot program,
9 an assisted living facility shall:
10 (a) employ not fewer than fifty employees at the time of application;
11 (b) demonstrate that at least seventy percent of such facility's
12 employees voluntarily self-identify as Black, Hispanic, or Asian; and
13 (c) maintain an average annual occupancy rate of not less than eighty
14 percent, calculated based upon licensed bed capacity during the twelve
15 months preceding application for and throughout participation in the
16 pilot program.
17 3. Payment increases. In addition to the capitated rates of payment
18 established pursuant to section thirty-six hundred fourteen of the
19 public health law for assisted living facilities, assisted living facil-
20 ities participating in the pilot program shall receive:
21 (a) a four percent increase to such capitated rate of payment,
22 increasing such rate from thirty-one percent to thirty-five percent for
23 the first year of participation in the pilot program;
24 (b) a five percent increase to such capitated rate of payment,
25 increasing such rate from thirty-five percent to forty percent for the
26 second year of participation in the pilot program;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15161-01-6
S. 9392 2
1 (c) a five percent increase of the nursing home rate, increasing such
2 rate from forty percent to forty-five percent for the third year of
3 participation in the pilot program; and
4 (d) a five percent increase of the nursing home rate, increasing such
5 rate from forty-five percent to fifty percent for the fifth year of
6 participation in the pilot program and thereafter.
7 4. Certification and verification. (a) Assisted living facilities
8 participating in the program shall submit an annual certification to the
9 department of health verifying compliance with subdivision two of this
10 section.
11 (b) Workforce demographic information shall be collected through
12 voluntary self-identification and shall not be publicly disclosed in
13 individually identifiable form.
14 (c) The commissioner may audit participating assisted living facili-
15 ties to ensure compliance with this section.
16 5. Non-compliance. A facility that fails to maintain the eligibility
17 requirements set forth in this section may be removed from the pilot
18 program at the discretion of the commissioner.
19 6. Reporting. The commissioner shall submit an annual report to the
20 governor, the temporary president of the senate, and the speaker of the
21 assembly, evaluating the fiscal impact and outcomes of the pilot program
22 and providing recommendations regarding continuation or expansion of the
23 pilot program.
24 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
