February 17, 2024

The New York State Council is leading a statewide advocacy campaign in conjunction with CPNYS, COMPA and the Federation of Mental Health Services, to secure OMIG Audit Reform. Last year the Assembly failed to move the bill to the floor for a full House vote before the end of session.  The Senate had already passed the bill.  The year before, both houses passed an earlier version of the legislation, however the Governor vetoed it.

We have relied on the expertise of Linda Clark at Barclay Damon who conducted research and then suggested provisions to the current bill that address concerns we have heard from the Administration and others over the years.  It also focuses the OMIG on the use of audit best practices and it curbs extrapolation in instances where the provider has made a clerical or other technical error that has no impact on the care provided.  The bill language takes its cues from what we learned about the OIG audit practices for monitoring the Medicare Program and other federal entitlement programs where extrapolation is employed as a last resort.  Please see the attached document for a list of groups working together on OMIG reform, and a discussion of what’s in the legislation.

Over the past few weeks we have been pushing lawmakers to sign on to a letter that was circulated by Assembly Health Chair Amy Paulin (sponsor of the Assembly bill currently in play) to her Assembly colleagues.  Since enactment of the bill would have a fiscal impact, we are working within the budget negotiation process to ensure the language of the bill is included in the final enacted budget.

I have attached the letter Assemblywoman Amy Paulin circulated to her Assembly colleagues, requesting their formal support.  It includes signatures from all of the lawmakers that signed on.  This is the result of your letter writing and phone calls to your Assembly representatives.  We wanted you to see who signed on.  THANK YOU! 

If your lawmaker is NOT on the letter, they still have an opportunity to demonstrate their support for OMIG Audit Reform.  They should send a letter/message to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie IMMEDIATELY urging him to include the language from our legislation in the Assembly one-house budget bill coming out shortly.  There is still time.  The Assembly has not yet settled on what will be included in its one-house bill but it will happen quickly so the moment is now!

Thanks again for your continued advocacy.  YOU ROCK!    Please keep up the letter writing to your representatives!  Use the NYS Council Advocacy Center letter generator to get it done. https://nyscouncil.org/advocacy-action-center/