Enacts the "home health information and clinical technology act" to provide for the development and implementation of a health information and clinical technology infrastructure support program for the home care system.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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5674
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 25, 2017
___________
Introduced by Sen. HANNON -- 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 enacting the "home
health information and clinical technology act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "home health information and clinical technology act".
3 § 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 3623 to
4 read as follows:
5 § 3623. Home health information and clinical technology. 1. The
6 commissioner, in consultation with representatives of home care provid-
7 ers, managed care plans, statewide associations representative of home
8 care, and other stakeholders engaged in the development and collabora-
9 tive use of health information technology in home care, shall develop a
10 health information and clinical technology infrastructure support
11 program for the home care system. Such program shall seek to:
12 (a) promote quality, accessibility, care management, innovation and
13 cost-effectiveness in care;
14 (b) support state goals for home care participation in integrated care
15 models under this chapter and the social services law including, but not
16 limited to, medicaid managed care, managed long term care, delivery
17 system reform incentive payment programs, value based payment models,
18 fully integrated duals advantage plans, health homes, patient-centered
19 medical homes, accountable care organizations, and hospital-home care-
20 physician collaboration programs; and
21 (c) facilitate home care participation in regional health information
22 organizations.
23 2. The program shall include, but not be limited to, the following
24 components:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02572-03-7
S. 5674 2
1 (a) Capital grants. Subject to the availability of funds therefor, the
2 commissioner shall be authorized to make available and, upon the
3 approval of the director of the budget, to provide state grants to
4 certified home health agencies, licensed home care services agencies and
5 longterm home health care programs for clinical and health information
6 technology. Such grants shall be provided pursuant to an application
7 process developed by the commissioner, in consultation with represen-
8 tatives of the providers, managed care plans and the other entities
9 specified in subdivision one of this section;
10 (b) Technology adjustment to episodic payment system. The commissioner
11 is authorized to provide a technology adjustment for certified home
12 health agencies and contracted licensed home care services agencies
13 under the episodic payment system established pursuant to subdivision
14 thirteen of section thirty-six hundred fourteen of this article. Such
15 adjustment may be made as either a statewide base price adjustment or an
16 add-on to the episodic rate, as the commissioner deems appropriate, to
17 support the purposes of this section. The commissioner is authorized to
18 also adjust, for said purposes, the payment rates for long term home
19 health care program providers;
20 (c) Technology adjustment under managed care. The commissioner is
21 authorized to provide a technology adjustment to managed care and
22 managed long term care premiums established pursuant to section three
23 hundred sixty-four-j of the social services law and section forty-four
24 hundred three-f of this chapter. Such adjustment shall be in amounts
25 which are in addition to other payments to managed care organizations
26 and plans, and shall be provided for health information and clinical
27 technology support for home care providers delivering or managing
28 services under contract with such plans, and shall promote the purposes
29 of this section;
30 (d) Technology support under the department's health workforce initi-
31 atives. The commissioner shall consider opportunities for clinical and
32 health information technology support within the department's initi-
33 atives and funding for health workforce recruitment, training, retention
34 and development. The commissioner shall seek to include such support for
35 technology when deemed to further the purposes of this section and the
36 specific workforce initiative, and to the extent allowable under such
37 workforce funding. Workforce initiatives under this section shall
38 include, but not be limited to, workforce funding authorized under the
39 state's section eleven hundred fifteen waiver to the federal social
40 security act for the state's medical assistance program;
41 (e) Technology incentive under managed care quality incentive
42 payments. On and after April first, two thousand eighteen, the commis-
43 sioner shall establish additional quality incentive payments to managed
44 care and managed long term care plans, respectively, pursuant to section
45 three hundred sixty-four-j of the social services law and section
46 forty-four hundred three-f of this chapter, based on evidence of plan
47 support for home care clinical and health information technology
48 consistent with the purposes of this section. Such amounts shall be in
49 addition to any other payments made to a managed care organization or
50 plan, and support shall be evidenced in a plan's contracts and payments
51 to home care providers and/or through other metrics identified by the
52 commissioner in consultation with representatives of managed care organ-
53 izations and plans;
54 (f) Technology support under the delivery system reform incentive
55 payment program. The commissioner shall include a contingency to funding
56 awarded to performing providers systems under the delivery system reform
S. 5674 3
1 incentive payment program such that the performing provider system
2 demonstrates to the satisfaction of the commissioner that it provides
3 programmatic and fiscal support for health information technology capac-
4 ity for home care providers within such system's network, consistent
5 with the purposes of this section.
6 (g) Health care reform act technology funding. Notwithstanding any
7 inconsistent provision of this chapter or the rules and regulations of
8 the department, the commissioner, subject to the approval of the direc-
9 tor of the budget, is authorized to redirect undistributed funds an
10 aggregate annual amount of up to one hundred million dollars for the
11 support of paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of this subdivision.
12 3. The provisions of this section shall be implemented in a manner in
13 collaboration with and consistent with the goals of the delivery system
14 reform incentive payment program and other technology initiatives under-
15 taken by the state.
16 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
