March 14, 2023

Today, both houses introduced their one-house budget bills.  Below are highlights from the Senate budget bills related to what they did in response to the Executive budget and their own priorities.  Assembly one house outcomes to follow.

Senate HMH Article VII Bill (S4007B):

• Repeals Medicaid global cap (Part A)
• Rejects proposals to eliminate prescriber prevails and modify OTC Medicaid coverage (Part D)
• Provides increased funding for hospitals including a 10% rate increase (Part E)
• Makes expansions to Essential Plan coverage providing $1.7B (Part H)
• Rejects managed care program reforms (Part J)
• Modifies waiver eligibility expansion proposal for incarcerated people and those in institutes of mental disease to provide full Medicaid coverage for those who are incarcerated and to create a task force for long term solutions for children at risk of losing coverage (Part K)
• Accepts proposal to create guiding principles for site-of-service utilization reviews (Part L)
• Modifies Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation proposal to provide $200M in additional funding to create a $200M set aside for community based organizations (Part P)
• Rejects proposal to expand various scopes of practice for providers and rejects Interstate Licensure Compact for physicians and nurses (Part W)
• Modifies medical debt proposals (Part Y)
• Rejects proposal to transfer oversight of Health/MH professions from SED to DOH (Part CC)
• Increase COLA to human service providers in six agencies by 8.5% including $34M for OASAS providers and $ for OMH providers (Part DD)
• Rejects proposal to create a “qualified mental health associate” (Part GG)
• Accepts OMH/OASAS joint licensure proposal for CCBHCs and indigent care pool funding for CCBHCs (Part HH)
• Accepts proposals for expanded commercial insurance coverage and reforms of BH services (Part II)
• Modifies proposal allowing Commissioner of OMH to impose penalties on providers for failing to comply with operating certificates and the law by adding protections for attempts made in good faith to comply (Part JJ)
• Includes new proposal to allow for expansion of treatment services provided by OASAS treatment centers to include treatment for mental health and physical health care needs of an individual consistent with S.3525 (Part MM)
• Includes new proposal to retroactively enroll children in CHP (Part UU)
• Repeals Medicaid pharmacy carve out and would replace with alternative proposal for pharmacy care (Part VV)
• Includes proposal to expand the number of facilities in the young adults medical fragility demo program (Part WW)
• Rejects administrative changes to the DoH Health Home Program (Part YY)
• Includes a new proposal to create workgroups to study and issue recommendations on suicide prevention in LGBTQ+, black and latina children (Part ZZ)
• Includes proposal to redefine qualifications for clinical peer reviewers used in external appeals and expands their role to include utilization reviews (Part AAA)
• Includes proposal to direct the Commissioner of OMH to establish a maternal mental health workgroup to study and issue recommendations (Part EEE)
• Includes a proposal to codify the quality incentive program for managed care providers with funding (Part GGG)
• Includes a proposal to create a workgroup to study and issue recommendations on implementing Daniel’s Law, and create a pilot program to support non-police, trauma-informed, community-led responses to mental health, alcohol and substance use crises (Part HHH)

Senate Aid to Localities and State Operations Bills (S4003B and S4000B):

• Adds $40m to support programs recommended by the Opioid Advisory Board
• Includes $30 million for the Health Home + program