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NY ALFA Advocacy Day Briefing Webinar May 22, 2013 Coming Soon: NY ALFA Online Training Courses for Executive Directors, Case Managers, Activities Directors, and other Management Staff NY ALFA Advocacy Day Briefing Webinar Presented by: Nancy Hodes, Co- Director NY ALFA Ginger Lynch Landy, Co-Director, NY ALFA Briefing Webinar for Advocacy Day June 4th Welcome to Albany Briefing webinar for NY ALFA’s 7th Annual Advocacy Day on June 4th! Important day for you, our Member Advocates, to meet with New York State’s lawmakers and staffs. • Webinar Goal: Effective and dynamic meetings. Advocacy Days Past Welcome from Legislative Leaders Top Level Meetings Discussion with NYS Office for the Aging Excellent Member Turnout Snapshot of NYS Government NYS Executive: Governor Andrew Cuomo 2013 Enacted Priorities: On Time Budget Passage of The NY SAFE ACT Increased Minimum Wage over the next 3 years Governor’s Remaining Legislative Priorities: Ethics Reform Casino Development The Women’s Equality Act Restructure Local Governments in Fiscal Distress Measured Approach to Hydrofracking NYS Legislature NY ALFA employs a bi-partisan strategy and agenda with respect to the NYS Legislature New York State Senate 30 R – 5 IDC- 29-D Led by the Senate Majority Coalition Leaders, Republican Conference Leader Senator Dean Skelos and Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeffrey Klein Bi-Partisan Coalition consisting of: 30 Senate Republicans: 5 Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) Senators New York State Assembly 106 D- 43 R- 1-I Led by Democratic Speaker Sheldon Silver Advocacy Thousands of issues; Hundreds of organizations come to Albany every year; NY ALFA advocating year round; Our Job: Ensure your voice is heard; Educate lawmakers on issues affecting the assisted living industry today. Schedule We will kick off our 7th Annual Advocacy Day at Taste Restaurant in Downtown Albany on June 3rd 4:30- 5:45: Demonstration of NY ALFA Online Training Courses: Presentation by Care and Compliance Group: Don Betsworth, Regional Director 6:00- 8:00: Cocktail Reception Sponsored by Brandywine Senior Living and Brookdale Senior Living Presentation of NY ALFA’s Distinguished Service Award to Mary Hart, former Director of the NYS Department of Health’s Division of Assisted Living Schedule June 4th Room 711-A of the Legislative Office Building 8:00am: Registration and Breakfast Sponsored by Dominican Village 8:30am: Welcome: Maribeth Bersani, SVP Public Policy, ALFA Nancy Hodes, Co-Director, NY ALFA Legislative Member Greetings 9:00am: Discussion with Keith Servis, Director, Center for Health Care Quality and Surveillance 9:45am: Agenda Review and Legislative Meeting prep: Nancy Hodes, Co-Director, NY ALFA Ginger Lynch Landy, Co-Director, NY ALFA 10:30am: Legislative Meetings What’s Our Message? NY ALFA – Dedicated to Promoting: Independence Freedom of Choice Dignity Ensuring Access and Affordability Communicating NY ALFA’s Message Have everyone in your group introduce themselves and their company; If you have a community in a legislator’s district, make sure to point that out right away; Describe your New York communities and their locations; Provide the number of residents served, and the number of employees you have in New York and nationally. Communicating NY ALFA’s Message Put a face on assisted living consumers – tell a personal story; Keep things as simple as possible; Stress the quality work done by your employees and reinforce the important role assisted living plays in your community; If you don’t know the answer, don’t sweat it! You can always back to them with more information. Invite the legislator to your community; REMEMBER: You are the expert – legislators are very interested in learning more about what you do! Make sure you leave your business card and legislator packet. NY ALFA Priority Themes NY ALFA’S Priorities are developed through input and feedback from the Advisory Board and the Public Policy Committee Licensure/Regulatory Reform Affordability & Access Pending Legislation Licensure/Regulatory Reform 86 Licensed Assisted Living Communities in NY Approximately 175 applications still pending Exploring options to expedite the licensure process: CARF Accreditation; Third Party Certification Licensure/Regulatory Reform Con’t Reform/Streamline the Certificate of Need (CON) process Establish a uniform building code requirement Ongoing Work of the Department of Health’s ACF/ALR Licensure Work Group Consistency in Regulatory Interpretations- EALR Work Group Affordability & Access Ensure Assisted Living Program (ALP) beds are directed to our providers who choose to participate Develop an affordable Medicaid assisted living program rate Fold the Assisted Living Program into the Assisted Living Reform Act of 2004 Pending Legislation CARF Accreditation S.5368 (Maziarz) Status: In Senate Health Committee Would allow ALR applicants, EALR applicants, and/or SNALR applicants to submit a current accreditation report from the nationally recognized accrediting organization known as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) in lieu of initial licensure approval as ALRs, EALRs, and/or SNALRs, as well as for annual surveys. Pending Legislation Criminal History Record Check Bill – A.5476/S.4926 (Cymbrowitz/Hannon) Status: In Assembly and Senate Health Committees Would require all adult care facilities and assisted living residences to conduct criminal background checks on all prospective direct care staff through the existing Department of Health system currently utilized for prospective employees of nursing homes and home care agencies and provides for a centralized registry of direct care workers. NY ALFA Supports this bill. A uniform system to screen direct care workers benefits residents and providers alike. Pending Legislation Automated External Defibrillator and CPR Bill – A.5957/S.3455 (Englebright/Flanagan) Status: In Assembly Health Committee; In Senate Aging Committee Would require all adult homes and assisted living residences to have on the premises at least one automated external defibrillator and one person trained in its use and in the use of CPR at all times Pending Legislation ALR Rate Study Bill: A.6769-A /S.4684 –A (DenDekker/Lanza) Status: In Assembly and Senate Aging Committees Would authorize a study to review the rate of the fees and charges assessed to residents of assisted living residences; We met with Senator Lanza and Assemblyman Dendekker and they agreed to remove the provision related to making recommendations to limit the increase of fees and charges Pending Legislation Long Term Care Community Coalition Bills: Last year, thanks to your advocacy efforts, we were successful in stalling these bills in Committee. Direct Care Aide Training Curriculum Bill- A.4467/S.1663 (Gottfried/Grisanti) Status: In Assembly and Senate Health Committees Nurse Staffing Bill – A.5168-S.1417 (Gottfried/Montgomery) Status: In Assembly Health Committee and Senate Aging Committee Penalty /Enforcement Bill – A.5201/S.1662 (Gottfried/Grisanti) Status: In Assembly Health Committee and Senate Finance Committee Advocacy Day Tips Know your message and be concise; Make it personal – put a human face on the issues; It’s ok to say I’ll get back to you; We are required to use the entrances to the Capital only – there is no access through the Legislative Office Building; Be prepared for security checkpoints – you will be asked to remove your coat and will have to put it through an X-ray machine along with your bags; Wear comfortable shoes – we do a lot of walking! REMEMBER – YOU ARE THE EXPERT!!!! For More Information Call us at 518-465-8303 Or email us at [email protected]