* § 364-h. Foster family care demonstration programs for elderly or
disabled persons. 1. The department is authorized to designate up to ten
entities which may include general hospitals, residential health care
facilities, home health care programs, and long term home health care
programs for the purpose of testing whether foster family care programs
for certain elderly or disabled persons can be appropriate alternatives
to institutional placement in those instances where such individuals do
not have a home or the necessary resources or family support to live in
the community.

2. A hospital, facility, or program designated as a foster family care
demonstration program shall perform the following functions:

(a) recruitment, selection and training of families to serve as foster
families;

(b) selection of those elderly or disabled persons who will receive
foster family care services under the demonstration project authorized
herein, and assessment of their needs;

(c) provision of or arrangement for necessary medical services; and

(d) monitoring the care being received by the person in the foster
family care home, and assessing the continuing viability of placement in
such home.

3. Persons eligible to participate in the foster family care
demonstration programs authorized by this section shall be:

(a) medically eligible for placement in a skilled nursing facility or
a health related facility or eligible for home care services;

(b) capable of being cared for in the community if a suitable home
environment and medical support services are provided; and

(c) lacking the home, resources or family support to live in the
community.

4. Families who participate in the foster family care demonstration
program shall be willing and able to provide:

(a) room and board;

(b) supervision of or assistance with the activities of daily living;
and

(c) personal care and other related services which may be necessary to
maintain the person in the community.

5. In designating a hospital, facility, or program to provide a foster
family care program, the department shall be satisfied as to the
cost-effectiveness of the proposal as compared to institutional long
term care.

6. The commissioner may waive the provisions of titles one and two of
article seven of this chapter and regulations of the department relative
thereto as necessary to implement the provisions of this section;
provided, however, the commissioner shall be satisfied that the health,
safety and welfare of persons participating in the foster care programs
are not affected negatively by such waivers.

7. This section shall not be interpreted to restrict a medical
assistance recipient's choice of provider of services to which he is
entitled pursuant to this title or to authorize any change in the
eligibility criteria for medical assistance.

8. A medical assistance recipient may discontinue participation in a
foster family care demonstration program at any time.

9. The department shall utilize all potential sources of funding for
such foster family care programs including, but not limited to, funding
available through titles sixteen, eighteen, nineteen and twenty of the
federal social security act and the federal older Americans act of 1965,
as amended. Services provided as part of a foster family care program
and related administrative expenses not otherwise eligible for coverage
under these or other funding sources shall be eligible for reimbursement
under the medical assistance program for the purposes of this
demonstration as long as federal financial participation is available.
The department shall take all steps necessary to secure such funding
including the submission of applicable waivers. Copies of waiver
submissions shall be provided to the chairman of the senate finance
committee and the chairman of the assembly ways and means committee.

10. The department, in consultation with the department of health and
the office for the aging, shall provide an interim report to the
governor and the legislature on or before November first, nineteen
hundred eighty-six and a final report on or before October thirty-one,
nineteen hundred ninety-five on the results of the foster family care
demonstration program. The report shall include findings as to the
program's cost effectiveness including consideration of the costs of
maintaining the person in the community, funding sources, programmatic
benefits and the effect on the need for residential health care facility
beds. In the final report, the department shall offer recommendations as
to whether the program should be extended, modified, eliminated or made
permanent.

11. Foster family care demonstration programs authorized pursuant to
chapter nine hundred forty-two of the laws of nineteen hundred
eighty-three and chapter five hundred forty-one of the laws of nineteen
hundred eighty-four shall comply with the provisions of this section but
shall be in addition to the entities designated in subdivision one of
this section. Such previously authorized demonstration projects shall be
subject to the expiration date of this section.

* NB Repealed December 31, 2025