BILL NUMBER: S8290
SPONSOR: RYAN C
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to establishing an
early intervention loan repayment program
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To establish a loan repayment program for early intervention providers
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Article 25 of the public health law to add a new
section 2560 establishing a loan repayment program for Early Inter-
vention providers who agree to serve families in-person in underserved
areas for a period of three consecutive years. This section provides a
comprehensive definition for the term "underserved areas." This section
also provides that loan repayment awards shall only be used to repay the
total qualifying outstanding loan debt of the Early Intervention provid-
er. This section also establishes a distribution scheme for loan repay-
ment for the required three-years of service. In addition, this section
provides that in the event that the three-year commitment is not
fulfilled, the recipient shall be responsible for the repayment of
amounts paid. The Commissioner may postpone, Change, or waive the
service obligation and repayment amounts where there is a compelling
need or hardship. This section also provides for the appointment of a
stakeholder workgroup by the department from recommendations made by the
associations representing Early Intervention providers within three
months of bill approval to streamline the application process for the
loan repayment program. This section further provides for the reallo-
cation and distribution of any undistributed funds.
Section 2 provides effective date as April 1, 2024.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
New York's. Early Intervention Program serves 70,000 developmentally
sand learning-disabled infants and toddlers, from birth to three years
old. On February 28, 2023, the State Comptroller issued an Audit Report
on the Early Intervention Program (Report 2021-S-25). This report found
that a majority of children eligible for Early Intervention were not
able to receive the necessary services that their evaluations called
for. Additionally, over a quarter of the children who were evaluated and
determined to need Early Intervention services experienced significant
delays before the start of their services. Three thousand eligible chil-
dren never received services at all. The Report indicated that minority
communities suffered the most from the lack of services.
Growing waitlists and workforce challenges includingiineufficient
provider capacity are key reasons why services are not always provided
in a timely manner. Since 2019, over 2,5000 therapists have left the
Early Intervention Program due to insufficient rates of pay. To allevi-
ate this issue, this bill would establish a loan forgiveness program for
early intervention providers who work in-person in underserved areas for
at least three consecutive years. Providing loan forgiveness will
attract new early intervention providers to the field and incentivize
providers to work in underserved areas.Without adequate provider capaci-
ty, thousands of underserved or wholly unserved children will enter the
public school system with unremedied disabilities and need both
preschool special education services and school age special education
services, the cost of which far exceeds the cost of Early Intervention.
To compound this issue, disabilities requiring early intervention are
almost always time sensitive, and failure to provide Early Intervention
services in a timely manner can have lasting effects on the children who
do not receive such services.
This bill is necessary to ensure that there are enough skilled providers
in the Early Intervention field to ensure that children are not left
behind due to a lack of available services.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A8455 of 2023 and 2024, referred to health
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.