BILL NUMBER: S3339A

SPONSOR: THOMAS
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the social services law, in relation
to enacting Vincent Scheppa's law authorizing, in certain cases, the
provision of in-home private duty nursing services to a recipient of
medical assistance by a relative who is a registered professional nurse

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To provide a mechanism for a Medicaid recipient who is authorized to
receive in-home private duty nursing services to receive such services
from a relative who is a registered professional nurse.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill adds a new section 365-o to the social services
law to authorize Medicaid recipients, or their representative or guardi-
an, who has been approved for in-home private duty nursing, to apply to
the commissioner of health to authorize an adult relative, other than
the spouse of the recipient, who is a registered professional nurse to
              

provide nursing care to the recipient and receive compensation at the
nursing rate of pay.

Section 2 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

On occasion, an individual who requires and is approved for in-home
nursing care through Medicaid has a family member who is a registered
professional nurse licensed in the state and qualified to provide the
care needed by their loved one. Current practice only allows a family
member to provide care and be reimbursed under Medicaid through the
Consumer Directed Personal Assistant Program (CDPAP) at the personal
assistant rate of pay. This program allows family members to provide
services traditionally reserved to those license d as nurses in limited
instances. However, CDPAP does not have a mechanism to allow relatives
to be hired and paid a nursing rate for approved in-home nursing care.
As a result, a nurse who would like to provide the care at home for a
relative must be able to afford to take a substantial pay cut to do so
or work as a nurse caring for someone else in order to earn the salary
commensurate to their licensure.

This legislation provides a mechanism for Medicaid recipients, or their
representatives, to apply to the Department of Health in these rare
instances where a family member is qualified and interested in providing
nursing services through Medicaid to their loved one and be reimbursed
at a nursing rate.

Vincent Scheppa suffered a brain injury in May of 2016 and has been
unable to care for himself since then. Vincent's mother Chris Scheppa is
a registered trauma nurse at ER of Mercy Medical Center. Chris is
constantly having to train a revolving door of home health aid workers
on the specific medical needs of her son. She has been by Vincent's side
since the accident.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2018: A8916A referred to health; same S6054A (Hannon) passed senate;
2017: A894 (Ra) referred to health; same as 56054 (Hannon) passed Senate

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None to state as individuals would already be approved for in-home nurs-
ing care and the relative would not receive a higher rate of pay than
currently provided.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.