I want to apologize for sending out the wrong information last night in my update. The fund of which we are attempting to get a set aside for is the Health Care Transformation Fund (set up by Governor Cuomo as a fund around healthcare business transactions) and not the aforementioned State Health Care Facilities Transformation Program in which there is already a set aside for community providers.
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2019 5:45 PM
Subject: Set Aside for Community Based Providers for the NYS Health Care Facility Transformation Program
Recently we have been referencing several of the last minute legislative items that are of importance to MHANYS including the HALT Legislation and elimination of prior authorization for Medication Assistance Treatment.
Other issues of importance include set aside funding for community nonprofits in the State’s Health Care Facility Transformation Program. This is a fund from the State Department of Health that largely goes to fund infrastructure costs for hospitals and nursing homes. A small percentage of that fund has gone to community providers in mental health and other arenas. We are advocating that minimally twenty five percent of the funding from the Transformation Fund be dedicated to community care providers including MHA’s and other behavioral health providers.
This past year, through your advocacy, we were able to get an increase in funding for direct care staff for behavioral health and OPWDD but this will also have a significant impact going forward.
Our partners at the Home Care Association have created an online campaign related to this legislation. To send out a message and share the link: https://p2a.co/nGYctNC and ask your members to input their contact information so that an email will be sent to their state senator and assembly member asking them to work with their colleagues and pass the bill this session. The message is listed below.
Thanks to the NYS Council of Behavioral Health for their leadership on this issue.
The email reads:
Please pass S.6376/A.7977-A, which assures a minimum 25% dedication of existing Health Care Transformation Fund (HCTF) allocations for community-care provider stability and innovation.
Community-based providers are at the front-line of health care’s ‘triple aim.’ We deliver cost-effective services, serve as hubs of population health management, and maintain quality of life at all stages of life and for all forms of illness.
To date, however, community providers have only been eligible for extremely limited, restrictive or peripheral state infrastructure investment opportunities.
Earlier this year, $675 million in HCTF investments were allocated to most hospitals and nursing homes. Critical investments are needed for community care, as well, to overcome a workforce crisis and best serve vulnerable populations with life-limiting chronic diseases, mental illness, behavioral health, terminal illnesses, and elder service needs.
Please work with your colleagues in both houses to achieve proportionate investments for front-line providers serving the health, mental health and clinical needs of individuals in your community by passing this bill this session. Thank you.
The process takes less than two minutes!
