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MEMBER ALERT

November 1, 2012

 

HCA Urges Regulatory Waiver Areas and Provides Other Updates on: DOH Surveys, Assistance from Massachusetts Providers, and Food Distribution Locations

  

HCA late this afternoon participated in a conference call by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and is engaged in further outreach with state Department of Health (DOH) officials on areas of regulatory flexibility for home care providers affected by Hurricane Sandy.

 

HCA also confirmed procedures for completion of a survey that DOH has asked providers to complete as soon as possible. (A PDF link to this survey is available on HCA's website here.)

 

Further information about these and other issues -- including the opportunity for assistance from Massachusetts providers and a chart of food distribution areas -- are provided below.

 

Regulatory Issues

 

The CMS provider call was announced late today in response to outreach by HCA, the Home Care Association of New Jersey and the National Association for Home Care and Hospice seeking relief for providers on the regulatory front.

 

During the call, CMS confirmed that New York State has requested an 1135 waiver for certain areas of regulation.

 

HCA has since followed up with state DOH officials to review the potential 1135 waiver areas and discuss further issues for needed regulatory relief. At the time of this writing, and at DOH's invitation, we are preparing to submit to the Department recommendations for additional waiver area requests for the Department's consideration and review tomorrow, and we will further share these items with the membership in an E-alert and/or in tomorrow's edition of ASAP.  

 

More information about the potential waiver areas are provided in several links shared by CMS in advance of today's conference call:

In addition, late this afternoon DOH posted a critical notice of regulatory flexibility to the MRT home page, which states:

 

Due to storm related difficulties, situations continue to arise in regard to vital patient services. Because of ongoing communication and staffing problems, some providers have had difficulty contacting Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) to receive approval for services. Please be advised that the New York State Department of Health has communicated to MCOs that they should be waiving pre-authorization and notification requirements during this time. Providers should not hesitate or delay in providing vital services due to an inability to contact MCOs for approval.

 

This policy statement, inserted near the top of the MRT home page, can be accessed at: http://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/redesign/

 

Upon this posting, HCA discussed the content of the statement and DOH's plans for identification of still further areas of flexibility, including fee for service, waiver programs, and other circumstances involving home care. HCA and DOH will be continuing in this mutual effort.

 

DOH Survey

 

Several providers have reported difficulty accessing a survey that DOH posted yesterday on the Health Commerce System (HCS). HCA has obtained a PDF of the survey and posted it on our website here. If you have not yet completed this survey -- which asks for information about patient evacuations and your ability to resume or commence services for patients -- DOH asks that you please do so as soon as possible by sending a PDF of the completed survey to the following e-mail address: [email protected]. DOH indicates that people not on the DOH Lotus Notes email system will need to send the survey to John Huffaker of DOH at: [email protected].

 

Assistance from Massachusetts Providers

 

HCA has today learned that the home care agencies of the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts are interested in providing support to agencies in New York and New Jersey affected by the hurricane. This assistance could be in the form of immediate assistance with medical or office supplies.  The window for this help may be short, but the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts is able to take direct requests.

 

For those interested, please contact Pat Kelleher at [email protected], or James Fuccione at [email protected] or call 617-482-8830.

 

HCA very much appreciates this assistance from our sister association in Massachusetts, who recognizes the enormous needs and resource constraints of providers in New York State contenting with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. We thank them for this opportunity and support.

 

Food Distribution Location 

 

HCA has also received word of the following food distribution locations which we would like to share with the membership. Please see the following link: