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Greetings NYSACRA Members!
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Labor and Employment Guidance from Kelley Drye & Warren
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Snowstorms in New York bring lots of questions with them. Where did we put that leftover rock salt? Who's going to shovel the driveway? Do we have to pay our non-exempt employees for the day if our agency closes early? We can't help you with the first two, but click here to read more about your payment obligations during weather-related closures.
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GOVERNOR CUOMO'S MEDICAID REDESIGN TEAM UNVEILS NEW WEBSITE
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Governor Cuomo issued Executive Order #5 which creates the Medicaid Redesign Team. The purpose of the team is to find ways to reduce costs and increase quality and efficiency to New York's Medicaid program, with both short term and long term solutions. Jason Helgerson, the State Medicaid Director, serves as the Executive Director of the team which is co-chaired by two team members. Max Chmura, Acting Commissioner of the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities is a member of the team. The Governor has created a website dedicated to the Medicaid Redesign Team which can be accessed by logging on to http://governor.ny.gov/medicaidredesign
A series of stakeholder meetings will be held throughout the State from January 15th - February 7th to outline the team's process, gain feedback from the public on Medicaid redesign and to share the team's initial ideas. You may access the New York Organizational Timeline and the New York Medicaid Redesign Team proposed project work plan on the website.
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ROY MCDONALD APPOINTED CHAIR OF THE STATE SENATE MH/DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES COMMITTEE
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On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos appointed Senator Roy McDonald (Rensselaer & Saratoga) as Chair of the Senate MH/Developmental Disabilities Committee. Senator McDonald has long been a champion of developmental disabilities issues, notably raising the awareness of autism. McDonald is the grandfather of two boys, Jacob and David, who are on the autism spectrum. The Senator is heralded for sponsoring forums and legislation related to autism spectrum disorder. Prior to Senator McDonald's election to the State Senate seat formerly held by Senator Joe Bruno, McDonald served in the State Assembly from 2002 through 2008. He also served as Wilton Town and County Supervisor (Saratoga County) for over 23 years. Senator McDonald is a distinguished Vietnam veteran. NYSACRA congratulates Senator Roy McDonald and looks forward to working with the Senator as Chair of the Senate MH/Developmental Disabilities Committee.
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JOIN US FOR NYSACRA'S ANNUAL LEGISLATIVE DAY ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15th
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Ann Hardiman and the NYSACRA Board of Directors are delighted to invite you to the annual NYSACRA Legislative Day to be held on February 15th at the Empire State Plaza in Albany. We remain excited at the prospect of several new opportunities in 2011 to establish and build upon key relationships. Now, more than ever, we should seize such opportunities for our voices to be heard by public officials and our February 15th Legislative Day is the perfect venue! If you have not done so already, please complete the registration form and send back to Lisa Mount at
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. We have also included for you the list of hotels for overnight accommodations on February 14th. If you have questions about Legislative Day, please do not hesitate to contact Lisa or Katie Mayo at
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We look forward to seeing you on February 15th!
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OIG AUDIT NEWS
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On Tuesday January 11, OPWDD held an update phone call for provider associations and providers who are involved in the HHS/OIG audit of Home and Community Based Waiver Services in New York State. The audit will address service claims in the calendar years 2006, 2007, and 2008, in Long Island and upstate New York; phase one of the audit was conducted in NYC during the summer. Many of the 74 agencies have received letters and/or phone calls from OIG auditors but do not yet have any scheduled dates for site visits. OPWDD is going to be more proactive and involved in this phase of the audit, by conducting a pre-audit questionnaire with providers and a post-audit review. Their goal is to help providers with the audit, assist in gathering supplemental or secondary documentation and supplying that to OIG before any audit findings are issued. The next phone call is January 25.
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ARTICLE 16 CLINIC PROVIDERS: DRAFT APG MANUAL FOR YOUR COMMENTS
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OPWDD is in development of an APG Policy and Billing Guidance Manual for Article 16 Clinics to be a "one-stop" information source for Article 16 Clinics. A work group has been meeting since April of 2010 and is comprised of representatives from the OPWDD Provider Associations, the State-operated Article 16 Clinics and various Central Office units. APG refers to Ambulatory Patient Group which is a payment methodology for outpatient services being applied to article 16 clinics effective July, 2011.Click here for the most recent DRAFT of the Policy and Billing Guidance Manual. OPWDD is seeking input from providers so please review and provide written feedback to Karen DeRuyter by Monday January 24th at
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SEEKING INPUT RE:SERIOUSLY CHALLENGING BEHAVIORS
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Nancy R. Weiss, Director, National Leadership Consortium On Developmental Disabilities at the University of Delaware, would like to hear from those with interest/expertise in finding ways to increase community capacity and quality positive supports for people with severely challenging behaviors. They are preparing for a meeting to discuss a national agenda to better support children and adults who have severely challenging behavioral issues. Specifically, she would like to hear reactions to these three questions:
- What would need to change to assure sufficient capacity and quality of supports within states to prevent the out-of-state placement of children and adults with severely challenging behaviors and to return people currently placed out-of-state to quality supports?
- When your state becomes aware of a person who has severely challenging behavioral issues and a decision is made to support that person in or near his/her home community what approaches are used? Are there states that don't place people out-of-state? What are some of the alternatives to restrictive out-of-state placement for people with severely challenging behaviors that we should learn more about?
- Are there additional best practices of which you are aware? Are you aware of quality programs that support people with severely challenging behavior using positive approaches? Please let us know who you would recommend we contact to learn more about programs and state models that may provide insight into recommended approaches.
You can send your thoughts to Nancy Weiss at
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Online Defensive Driving Course
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