Bill Text: NY A04980 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Commissions a study regarding the quality of health care services received by foster children in New York state; provides for a report to be submitted by the commissioner of the office of children and family services detailing the findings of such study.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-06 - enacting clause stricken [A04980 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A04980-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4980 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 6, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. TITUS, JAFFEE, PEOPLES-STOKES -- read once and referred to the Committee on Children and Families AN ACT to commission a study regarding the quality of health care services received by foster children in New York state The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. 1. The commissioner of the office of children and family 2 services shall contract with an external research organization to evalu- 3 ate the implementation and effectiveness of New York state's health care 4 delivery system for children in the care, custody or guardianship of the 5 office of children and family services or local social services 6 districts pursuant to articles 3, 7 and 10 of the family court act or 7 section 358-a, 384-a or 384-b of the social services law. The evalu- 8 ation shall include recommendations for improving the access to, and the 9 quality of, health and behavioral health services for children in the 10 care, custody or guardianship of the office of children and family 11 services or the local social services district. Such commissioner shall 12 select such research organization pursuant to a request for proposals 13 process. Preference shall be given to an organization based on adequacy 14 of the proposed research design, research staff qualifications, and 15 availability of non-state dollars to support the project, and other 16 criteria as determined by the commissioner of the office of children and 17 family services. The evaluation shall include, but not be limited to, an 18 examination of: 19 (a) the quality of health and behavioral health services provided to 20 children in the care, custody or guardianship of the office of children 21 and family services or the local social services district, including, 22 but not limited to, whether children are receiving effective or neces- 23 sary treatment in a timely fashion and in accordance with the regu- 24 lations of the office of children and family services; 25 (b) the average length of time from referrals for children in the 26 care, custody or guardianship of the office of children and family 27 services or the local social services district, to receive treatment to 28 the date of initial treatment; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD07707-01-9A. 4980 2 1 (c) whether sufficient information is provided to educate foster 2 parents on the health care delivery system for foster children, includ- 3 ing identification of providers and appropriate billing arrangements; 4 (d) the existence and adequacy of current oversight practice regarding 5 health care services for children in the care, custody or guardianship 6 of the office of children and family services or the local social 7 services district, including monitoring or record keeping practices of 8 voluntary agencies, social services districts, family courts, the office 9 of children and family services and the department of health; 10 (e) whether foster children who receive health care coverage under the 11 medicaid per-diem system receive adequate health and behavioral health 12 services; 13 (f) whether foster children who receive health care coverage under the 14 medicaid fee-for service system receive adequate health and behavioral 15 health services; 16 (g) to what extent the medicaid per-diem is used in conjunction with 17 direct billing under fee-for service and whether this practice provides 18 foster children with adequate health and behavioral health services; 19 (h) whether foster children who receive health care services through 20 enrollment in a medicaid managed care plan receive adequate health and 21 behavioral health services; 22 (i) whether any difficulties exist in accessing prescription drugs for 23 foster children; 24 (j) whether foster children or foster parents are being billed for 25 health care services provided to foster children which should be covered 26 under medicaid; 27 (k) the number of voluntary agencies throughout the state that provide 28 health care services to foster children in their care through health 29 care professionals employed by their agency; 30 (l) the quality of health care provided by health care professionals 31 hired by voluntary agencies and the benefits and drawbacks of having 32 health care services provided by voluntary agencies; 33 (m) whether children leaving foster care or placement in juvenile 34 justice facilities, who would be otherwise eligible for medicaid cover- 35 age upon leaving placement, experience difficulty in accessing transi- 36 tional medicaid coverage or medicaid coverage in the community; and 37 (n) what barriers exist for children in the care, custody or guardian- 38 ship of the office of children and family services or the local social 39 services district, to access health care services in the community. 40 2. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the selected organ- 41 ization shall have access to necessary non-identifiable data collected 42 by the office of children and family services, the department of health, 43 local social services districts and voluntary agencies, and shall 44 collect supplemental data as needed to conduct a thorough and comprehen- 45 sive evaluation. Data collected shall not reveal the name, social secu- 46 rity number or any other information which may be used to identify the 47 child or the family of the child. 48 3. The commissioner of the office of children and family services 49 shall submit a report detailing the findings of such study to the gover- 50 nor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, 51 and the chairperson of the senate committee on social services, children 52 and families, the chairperson of the assembly committee on children and 53 families and the chairpersons of the senate and assembly committees on 54 health on or before June 30, 2020. 55 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
