BILL NUMBER: S5015
SPONSOR: SEPULVEDA
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to applying a special
Medicaid rate for releasees in nursing homes
 
PURPOSE:
Authorizes a special Medicaid rate for nursing homes that accept elderly
releasees from state correctional facilities.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends paragraph (e) of subdivision 2-b of section 2808 of the
public health law.
Section 2 amends paragraph (c) of subdivision 2-c of section 2808 of the
public health law.
Section 3 sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Nursing homes and skilled nursing care facilities should accept elderly
inmates whose medical conditions requires placement in a nursing home,
but it's understandable that such facilities may have some concern about
accepting a patient who is being released from a regional medical unit
in a state correctional facility. The concern may be related to securi-
ty, reputation, or special reentry needs of the individual that may
result in additional cost to the home. For these reasons this bill would
provide the same enhanced Medicaid rate to such facilities for accepting
such releasees as is currently provided when accepting persons with HIV,
traumatic brain injury or who require behavioral interventions. This
bill does not reward bad behavior by paying a special rate to a facility
that would otherwise discriminate against elderly persons because they
were convicted of a crime; rather, this bill incentivizes and compen-
sates facilities to accept our elderly parolees who are too frail, sick
or disabled to be released to any place other than a nursing home or
skilled nursing facility.
On any given day there are approximately several dozen inmates in
regional medical units in state correctional facilities who have
completed their terms of incarceration and who have been determined to
be safe to release but who continue to be held in prison regional
medical units for lack of a nursing home in which to place such person.
The Department of Corrections has five regional medical units with beds
that cost as much as $260K per year to house an elderly inmate. Inmates
often live in these units for years, occupying beds that are needed for
other inmates, because we cannot find a nursing home bed for them
outside of prison.
State correctional facilities have dozens of inmates in their 80's and
some in their early 90's. These facilities have units for inmates
suffering from Alzheimer's disease, units for inmates who are on daily
dialysis, units for wheelchair-bound inmates, and other specialized
units for inmates who are frail, chronically ill or physically debili-
tated. We can't force a nursing home to take a sick and elderly inmate,
but we can incentivize their willingness and compensate them for their
efforts. This bill will do exactly that.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
S.3317 of 2023-2024; Referred to Health;
S.2964 of 2021-22: Referred to Health
S.2664 of 2019-20: Referred to Health
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a law.

Statutes affected:
S5015: 2808 public health law, 2808(2-b) public health law, 2808(2-c) public health law