There are multiple components of the Governor’s “Post-Sandy” initiatives that are of participular interest to senior citiziens who can benefit from the approach and participate in the effort to further recovery and respond in the future. The following are excerpts from the Message:  
Establish a Statewide Volunteer Network. We can build on the time-tested tradition of neighbor helping neighbor by casting a broader net to bring in individuals, nonprofit organizations and corporations that do not traditionally engage in disaster relief. Launch a Citizen Education Campaign: Prepared citizens as “in-house first responders.” Before a disaster even occurs, the State should help residents be prepared with information, resources and supplies.
Ensure that Vulnerable Populations Can Receive Help in an Emergency Protecting vulnerable populations starts with identifying the people at greatest risk so that they can receive help before, during and after an emergency.
The use of Vulnerable Population databases will be expanded so first responders, outreach workers, and healthcare and human services personnel can find and serve those who may need assistance. The voluntary databases could include populations such as the frail elderly,…..

Details on many of the new policy initiatives described by the Governor in the Message will appear in the State’s Budget Message, later this month.
You can read the Governor’s State of the State Message here: http://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/default/themes/governor/sos2013/2013SOSBook.pdf

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Observation-status-and-a-nasty-surprise-4106789.php#photo-3873110

1) rate of infections
2) Readmission rates
3) Communications with patients
4) unnecessary scanning with radiation exposure.

These issues have been of great concern to senior advocates and StateWide Senior Action Council. Consumer Reports has a Safe Patient Project which analyzes the data. The magazine suggests the same kinds of things we have been urging about hospital visits: go home as soon as you can unless you don’t feel stable, see a discharge planner in advance and get a summary of steps to take when you get home, get results of tests and make sure to see your primary care doctor within 7-10 days after discharge.

The magazine says that those hospitals with the best ratings were those which made deliberate systemwide attempts to improve in specific areas, like lowering infection rates or limiting unnecessary scans. Consumer Reports noted that no hospitals got top marks for lower re-admissions and communications. 166 hospitals nationwide got the lowest score. Almost 500 hospitals nationwide earned the lowest score for communications about medications and discharge plans. There are about 120 New York State hospitals ranked. Here are the top ranking hospitals in New York State in the Consumer Reports study with their scores in parentheses:

1) Cayuga Medical Center – Ithaca (61)

2) Benedictine Hospital – Kingston (60)

3) Peconic Bay Medical Center – Riverhead (59)

4 (tie) Saratoga Hospital – Saratoga Springs (57)

4 (tie) St. Francis Hospital – Roslyn (57)

6 (tie) NYU Langone Medical Center – New York (56)

6 (tie) St. Peter’s Hospital – Albany (56)

6) Mt. St. Mary’s Hospital and Health Center – Lewiston (56)

9) Putnam Hospital Center – Carmel (55)

10 (tie) Albany Memorial Hospital – Albany (53)

10 (tie) Community Memorial Hospital – Hamilton (53)

12 (tie) Peninsula Hospital Center – Far Rockaway (52)

12 (tie) Good Samaritan Hospital – Suffern (52)

12 (tie) St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital – Newburgh (52)

12 (tie) Samaritan Hospital – Troy (52)

12 (tie) Sisters of Charity Hospital of Buffalo (52)

17(tie) St. Joseph Hospital – Bethpage, Long Island (51)

17 (tie) Nyack Hospital, Nyack (51)

17 (tie) Bassett Medical Center – Cooperstown (51)

17 (tie) Canton-Potsdam Hospital – Potsdam (51)

17 (tie) Arnot Ogden Medical Center – Elmira (51)

17 (tie) Rome Memorial Hospital – Rome (51)

Nearly 200 seniors from many different areas and organizations in the state attended Monday’s Grassroots Senior Day at the Legislative Office Building in Albany. They heard State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli talk about the state pension fund and senior programs. He also congratulated StateWide Senior Action Council on its 40th anniversary. Also attending were Senate Aging Chair David Valesky, Assembly Chair Joan Millman and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, chair of the Health Committee. Senator Kemp Hannon was unable to attend due to some recent hip surgery but about twenty seniors went to his office in the Capitol to thank him for his leadership role in restoring $30 million to the EPIC program.

In the morning, StateWide held a training program on hospital and health care rights and discussed a new brochure, “Take this to the Hospital With You” which describes care prior to going to the hospital, hospital rights and appeal processes and post hospital care. Contact StateWide if you would like to receive the new brochure and wallet card which contains phone numbers of IPRO and the New York State Department of Health to make appeals and quality of care complaints.

Organizations which were partners with StateWide in the event were Citizen Action, the Institute of Puerto Rican and Hispanic Elderly, JASA, Retirees Association of DC 37, Millenium Development of Brooklyn, the New York State Alliance for Retired Americans, and Brooklyn-wide Interagency Council Education Fund.

Representatives of EPIC, the Public Service Commission, the Comptroller’s Office, Hunger Solutions, the Attorney General’s office, the New York State Department of State Consumer Protection Bureau and the State Office for the Aging had informational tables at the event.

Governor Cuomo Ends Finger imaging for Food Stamp Benefits

Governor Cuomo held a press conference in Albany on Thursday to announce that the state will no longer require finger printing as a condition of eligibility for food stamps. Aging advocates had sent a letter to the Governor earlier this year asking that he end the practice which had been previously ended for some other populations. The Governor said the “being poor is not a crime” but that finger imaging has a criminal stigma. With demand growing for food, Governor Cuomo and advocates want to make it easier to access food stamps. Statistics from food pantries show large increases in recent years in the number of persons including older persons seeking help.

IPRO Plans Patient Education Program

IPRO, the Medicare contracted Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) is launching a Patient Empowerment Program and is looking to train community based leaders to conduct trainings across the state. The trainings would consist of four sessions and participants would receive a certificate at the conclusion. The trainings will focus on hospital patients rights, caregiving and care transitions issues and health and wellness. Organizations interested in receiving information about the training and possibly signing up to provide the training can e-mail Janice Hidalgo at jhidalgo@ipro.us. StateWide will be working with IPRO to conduct some of the local trainings as we expand our Patients rights outreach.

Aging Concerns United Us (ACUU) Conference in Albany, June 4, 5

The state’s largest conference for professionals and advocates in the field of aging will be held on June 5,6 in Albany at the Desmond Hotel. The New York State Association of Area Agencies on Aging will again sponsor the conference with many other organizations co-sponsoring. Over 400 persons from throughout the state usually attend the conference. Michael Burgess, StateWide Public Policy Consultant, will conduct the workshop on Medicare reform options on Tuesday, June 5 at 3:00.

To learn more about the conference registration, go to www.nysaaaa.org

Senate Passes Cuomo’s Proposal for Justice Center

The State Senate quickly passed Governor Cuomo’s proposal to investigate and prosecute abuses in state run facilities serving vulnerable populations including seniors and the developmentally disabled. The bill also proposes creation of a new agency, the Justice Center, to streamline and coordinate protections for the populations served. The agency would include a hotline as well as investigation and enforcement. Some human needs advocates want the Assembly to move more slowly before taking action on the bill. Advocates feel the bill is complicated and needs review to ensure that it will be more effective than the current system. Some advocates for the disabled also want to be sure that the state has the power to get rid of any employees who abuse residents of these facilities.

Gottfried, Hannon Bill Would Better Regulate Out of Network Health Charges

Assemblyman Gottfried and also also sponsoring a bill that would give the Department of Financial Services greater power to oversee, reject and demand information from health insurance plans about their out-of-network charges. This bill is A.7489-B/S5068-A sponsored by Gottfried/Hannon.

New York StateWide Senior Action Council supports this bill which will give greater power to the Director of the Office of Financial Services to disapprove health plans which do not provide out of network charges on a reasonable basis. The bill also requires greater disclosure and transparency by health plans of the methodology they use in determining charges made for out of network providers.
This disclosure will be important for many consumers who are stunned when they learn the charges made by out of network providers. Sometimes consumers have chosen to use these providers. Other times, they have been surprised to find out that, while in the hospital, out of network providers submitted bills for some services when the consumers was unaware they were not in the plan they subscribed to. These out of network charges can be quite high.

This bill seeks to give consumers information and a greater opportunity to make informed choices about which providers to use and whether those providers are in their plan. It will also give consumers more information about what the added charges might be so that they can consider alternatives.

This legislation will also promote the use of a new database by Fair Health which is being developed to more accurately determine the cost of services which should be charged.

Legislation of Note as the Session Heads into the Home Stretch

Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and Senator Diane Savino are pushing for passage of their bill to allow for marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes with state oversight. The bill numbers are A7347-A Gottfried in the Assembly and S.7283 Savino in the Senate. StateWide’s Board of Directors endorsed this bill in the past.

StateWide is pushing for extension of the funeral pre-need trust bill. This would maintain the trust fund and ban funeral directors from selling funeral insurance. This bill is A.8434/S6108 sponsored by Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz and Senator Joseph Robach.

The State Senate majority has included $48 million to restore budget cuts to the EPIC program, saying this funding will return the maximum co-payments under EPIC to $20 and coverage will be before, during and after the “donut hole” or coverage gap which begins after $2960 of annual drug costs.  We are very disappointed that the Assembly has not included any restoration to EPIC and it is important to call your member of the Assembly and tell them to support the Senate in restoring EPIC funds.  You should also call your State Senator and thank them for restoring EPIC and insist they hold firm in budget negotiations to support the EPIC restoration.

The Senate has also increased funds to “hold harmless” county offices for the agency which are going to lose funding because of the re-allocation of state funds with the new Census population totals.  The Senate added $1.6 million for this purpose so that no county loses funding.  39 counties are slated to lose funding even though all counties except Montgomery had an increase in their senior population 60+ between 2000 and 2010.

The Assembly did restore the 10% cut to the NORC programs (Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities).  Neither house restored the cut in local assistance to the NY Connects program which had been $3.8 million – $5 million in years past and is now proposed in the Governor’s budget at $3.35 million.

StateWide urges you to call your members of the Assembly and Senate in their local offices or their Albany offices.  You can reach members of the Assembly at the Assembly switchboard, (518) 455-4100 and members of the Senate at the central Senate switchboard at (518) 455-2800.

The woman’s family asked about filing an appeal and they were given the information to file an appeal with IPRO, the agency which handles appeals for Medicare. By filing the appeal she was allowed to stay in the hospital pending the decision by IPRO. She stayed in the hospital until the following Tuesday. She then initially received an unfavorable decision from IPRO saying the hospital was correct in seeking to send her home. This meant that she would be financially responsible for the additional days she spent in the hospital. In addition, since she was not formally “admitted” to the hospital, was in “observation status,” and she would have to pay for rehabilitation in a nursing home. That is because Medicare requires a three day hospital admission prior to nursing home rehab or it will not pay for the rehab stay.

The woman was transferred to a nursing home in Rennselaer County and remains there now. However, IPRO reviewed the first denial it made and determined that the woman should have been admitted because of nature of the fracture and the pain she had. When she was xrayed again on the following Monday, they saw a fracture in both arms. At first they only said one arm was fractured. By reversing the decision, Medicare would pay rather than the family for the extra hospital stay as well as the rehab visit, saving the woman thousands of dollars.

StateWide provided assistance and counseling to the adult son of this woman and we also contacted IPRO to seek a further review of the case. He e-mailed us and said, “First, thanks for even thinking about this. I can’t tell you how stressful this is and how much I appreciate the help.”

So, please call our Patients Rights Helpline if you or a friend or family member has questions or is in need of assistance regarding hospital issues.

The toll free number in Albany is 1-800-333-4374