One
Voice
2018 Sneak Peak
(continued from page 17)
Medication Aides: Currently, there are a number of states that utilize medication
aides in residential care facilities. In New York, the Department of Mental Hygiene
created a program by utilizing an exemption in the Nurse Practice Act that allows for
direct care staff, such as CNAs, to administer medication under the supervision of
an RN. Under the exemption, a direct care worker is trained by an RN to administer
medication and then pass a final examination, as well as a clinical practicum, to become
certified as a medication aide. A.6891 (Jenne) would ensure that individuals receiving
services in nursing homes, particularly those in less populated areas, would receive
proper medication administration from certified aides, allowing more time for the RN to
provide direct care at a more efficient rate. Quality of care for patients would increase, as
would job satisfaction, wages, and staff retention.
TBI-DD Integration: In many areas of the state, particularly rural areas, there is
a severe shortage of caregivers to support individuals with TBI in the community.
Many times, this leads to the unfortunate placement of people into nursing homes.
Oftentimes, these individuals could be served by local providers of developmental
disabilities services, unless their TBI was suffered after age twenty-one. A.1425
(Jenne)/S.517 (Young) will allow these individuals to access developmental disabilities
services, ensuring they can be served in a more community-based setting. Since
individuals with TBI already receive Medicaid, this bill will provide no additional cost
to the state and may in fact save Medicaid dollars by keeping individuals out of higher
cost nursing home settings.
The Way Forward
While we are expecting a difficult budget year and potentially chaotic Senate chamber,
we believe that our agenda offers promise to the State by lowering overall Medicaid costs
through offering efficiencies and building the capacity of community-based settings,
allowing seniors to age in place and not unnecessarily move to a higher, costlier, level of
care. As the State struggles to close their budget gaps, diverting resources to lower cost
care options can offer opportunities to slow the growth of Medicaid.
The key to our success in reversing budget cuts, stopping onerous tax reform measures
and nurse staffing ratios and advancing our priority legislation is speak ing in one voice.
LeadingAge NY has developed letters, posts and tweets related to all our priority issues.
We are turning to the social media to amplify our voice and get public attention on these
important issues. Our members can play a key role by sharing, posting and tweeting our
message on their social media platforms as well.
LeadingAge NY will also be taking a more focused regional approach to advocacy in
the new year. Many key legislators have ten or more providers in their community. A
regional approach to advocacy will offer us an opportunity to get all of our members
in the same room with their legislative representative. Meetings can include board
members, residents, staff and vendors – providing a powerful and unified voice of
community members to legislators. In the weeks ahead we will be working with our
members to facilitate these regional meetings as the legislative session gets underway.
So strap on your seat belts and get ready for a crazy ride and plan to set aside some time
for a busy year of advocacy.
Questions? Contact Jeff Diamond, government relations analyst, at jdiamond@
leadingageny.org or 518-867-8821.
19
Adviser a publication of LeadingAge New York | Fall 2017