Bill Text: NY A04492 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Directs the commissioner of health to establish demonstration projects providing for equity investment in the operation of residential health care facilities.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to health [A04492 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A04492-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          4492

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 4, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M. of A. PEOPLES-STOKES -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Health

        AN ACT to amend the public health law,  in  relation  to  directing  the
          commissioner of health to establish demonstration projects authorizing
          equity  investment in the operation of residential health care facili-
          ties

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Section  2801-a  of  the  public health law is amended by
     2  adding a new subdivision 17 to read as follows:
     3    17. (a) The commissioner shall, on or  before  December  thirty-first,
     4  two  thousand  twenty-one, establish up to two demonstration projects to
     5  develop, evaluate and implement an innovative  approach  to  encouraging
     6  equity  investors  to provide needed financial resources for and hold an
     7  equity interest as operators of residential health care facilities.  One
     8  project  shall  be in the upstate region of the state.  The other demon-
     9  stration project shall be in a downstate region in the state. In  antic-
    10  ipation  of  the  financial impact on residential health care facilities
    11  from the state's expansion of mandatory managed care to long  term  care
    12  services,  the  demonstrations shall be designed to promote the develop-
    13  ment of new sources of capital for the operation of  residential  health
    14  care  facilities, and to measure the ability of such investment to posi-
    15  tively impact facilities in terms of capital improvements, investment in
    16  new technology, and improvement to the quality of care  and  quality  of
    17  life  for  facility  residents  measured  by  broadly  accepted industry
    18  metrics including, but not limited to, those  related  to  reduction  in
    19  rates  of  rehospitalizaton,  MDS  quality indicators, end of life care,
    20  medical  orders  for  life-sustaining  treatment  and  nursing  facility
    21  "culture change" initiatives. The facilities participating in the demon-
    22  strations  and  the  commissioner shall mutually develop the appropriate
    23  metrics to measure such impact which shall serve as the  basis  for  the

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06715-01-1
        A. 4492                             2

     1  report  to the governor and the legislature required by paragraph (h) of
     2  this subdivision.
     3    (b)  For purposes of such demonstrations, the commissioner may approve
     4  demonstration projects each involving the  purchase  of  up  to  fifteen
     5  existing  residential  health  care  facilities  which have histories of
     6  providing high quality care to residents.
     7    (c) The equity investor shall participate in each facility through the
     8  creation of limited liability companies established to operate the resi-
     9  dential health care facilities.
    10    (d) The residential health care facilities may be operated by  limited
    11  liability  companies  formed  pursuant  to the limited liability company
    12  law, whose members are not natural persons  so  long  as  at  least  one
    13  member of such limited liability companies is a natural person of suffi-
    14  cient  experience  and  expertise in delivering high quality nursing and
    15  health related care to whom the equity investor has  delegated,  to  the
    16  satisfaction of the public health and health planning council, responsi-
    17  bility for the day to day management and operation of the facility.
    18    (e) The provisions of paragraph (b) of subdivision three and paragraph
    19  (c)  of  subdivision  four of this section shall not apply to the equity
    20  investor or its owners; provided, however, that the  public  health  and
    21  health  planning  council may require commercially reasonable disclosure
    22  of the identity of limited liability company members, provided that  the
    23  number of investors is not greater than thirty-five.
    24    (f)  The  provisions  of paragraphs (e) and (f) of subdivision four of
    25  this section shall not apply to residential health care facilities oper-
    26  ated pursuant to this subdivision. Nothing in this section shall prohib-
    27  it a limited liability company from being the sole member of the limited
    28  liability companies referred to in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this subdi-
    29  vision provided that the former limited liability company  or  at  least
    30  one of its members conforms to the requirements of such paragraphs.
    31    (g)  Residential  health  care facilities participating in this demon-
    32  stration program shall be subject to  all  operating  standards  as  set
    33  forth  in  this article and the regulations promulgated pursuant thereto
    34  and shall be subject to any provisions of this chapter  for  failure  to
    35  comply  with  such  standards.  Additionally,  facilities in this demon-
    36  stration program shall comply with all department regulations pertaining
    37  to admissions of Medicaid patients.
    38    (h) No later than two years after the first facility commences  opera-
    39  tion  pursuant  to  this  demonstration  program, the commissioner shall
    40  provide the governor, the temporary president  of  the  senate  and  the
    41  speaker  of  the assembly with a written evaluation of the demonstration
    42  programs.  Such evaluation shall address the  overall  effectiveness  of
    43  the  program  in  providing  access to capital investment by residential
    44  health care facilities and evaluate the impact private equity investment
    45  has on the quality of care as evidenced by staff retention  and  quality
    46  indicators, and access to care for various resident populations.
    47    (i)  Residential  health  care facilities participating in this demon-
    48  stration program shall submit such quality reports as shall be  required
    49  and  directed by the commissioner, including information on patient care
    50  quality indicators, staffing levels and patterns and access to care  for
    51  various patient populations.
    52    §  2.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
    53  have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
    54  repeal of any rule or regulation necessary  for  the  implementation  of
    55  this  act  on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
    56  on or before such effective date.