367-W - Regional long-term care assessment centers.
§ 367-w. Regional long-term care assessment centers. 1. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the department of health is authorized to establish a demonstration program, which shall be three years in duration, under which the department shall designate one or more long-term care assessment centers to be established in and together serve an entire county within the city of New York and shall designate a long term care assessment center to be established in another region consisting of one or more contiguous counties elsewhere in the state. Such centers shall serve the purpose of transferring from the social services district to the regional long-term care assessment centers responsibility for activities related to the assessment of a person's need for, and the authorization of, long-term care services and programs identified in subdivisions two, three and four of this section. The department is authorized to contract with one or more entities within each county to operate regional long-term care assessment centers. 2. The regional long-term care assessment centers shall have responsibility for assessment of long-term care needs of an applicant for, or recipient of, medical assistance and for authorization of services and participation in programs including: personal care services, including personal emergency response services, under paragraph (e) of subdivision two of section three hundred sixty-five-a of this title; consumer-directed personal assistance services under section three hundred sixty-five-f of this title; the assisted living program under section four hundred sixty-one-l of this chapter; and participation in the long-term home health care program under section three hundred sixty-seven-c of this title and section thirty-six hundred sixteen of the public health law, including the AIDS home care program under the provisions of section three hundred sixty-seven-e of this title and section thirty-six hundred twenty of the public health law. 3. Notwithstanding any provision of section forty-four hundred three-f of the public health law to the contrary, the regional long-term care assessment center shall have responsibility for reviewing assessments to verify that an individual requires a nursing home level of care and, after confirming that an enrollment is voluntary, for authorizing participation in a managed long-term care plan or an approved managed long-term care demonstration under paragraph (o) of subdivision two of section three hundred sixty-five-a of this title. 4. The regional long-term care assessment centers shall have responsibility for reviewing documentation from a person's physician and a certified home health agency and for making the determination as to the continuing need for home health services authorized under paragraph (d) of subdivision two of section three hundred sixty-five-a of this title beyond sixty days. 5. This section shall apply to those consumers who apply for the services specified in this section on and after the later of January first, two thousand ten or the date specified in the contract between the department and the entity selected to be a regional long-term care assessment center. 6. When a long-term care assessment center is authorized to assess long-term care needs or authorize services pursuant to this section, an applicant or recipient may challenge any action taken or failure to act in connection therewith as if such assessment or authorization were made by a government entity, and shall be entitled to the same medical assistance benefits and standards and to the same notice and procedural due process rights, including a right to a fair hearing and aid continuing pursuant to section twenty-two of this chapter, as if the assessment or authorization were made by a government entity.7. The commissioner of health shall submit a report biannually to the governor, temporary president of the senate, speaker of the assembly and the minority leaders of the senate and the assembly. Such report shall also be posted on the department's website. Such report shall include, but not be limited to, an assessment of the project, an analysis of the level and costs of services managed under the contracts, recipient satisfaction and other matters as may be pertinent. In addition, the commissioner shall convene an annual meeting of stakeholders to discuss implementation of the demonstration program established pursuant to this section.