NYS 2025 Legislative Session - The Latest News & Developments
The Situation Report | June 9, 2025
The last day of this year’s state legislative session is scheduled for June 12, 2025. The New York State Senate appears to be on track to complete its work by that deadline, but rumors are beginning to swirl that the Senate may extend its session until Friday, June 13. In the NYS Assembly, political intelligence and news reports over the last few weeks have consistently indicated that the Assembly intends to extend this year’s legislative session until June 18.
Regardless of the end-of-session date, HCANYS stands ready to continue its advocacy efforts through to the last minute of activity at the State Capitol. The latest news and updates on HCANYS key legislation and other legislation affecting the home care sector can be found below.
Updates on HCANYS-written State Legislation:
State Aid for Home Health Community Need - S.6981-A (Webb) / A.1493-A (Paulin)
Written by HCANYS and our member workgroup, this bill amends the public health law to provide for an annual state aid program for home health agencies to meet community need. The bill is currently in the Senate and Assembly Health Committees. Through active negotiations with both the Senate and Assembly, this legislation has just been amended in both houses to allow the specific funding level to be determined as part of the annual budget process versus determined by the legal text of the legislation, and thus make it more palatable for passage here at the end of session.
CHHA Episodic Rate - S.7052-A (Webb) / A.7013-B (Paulin)
Written by HCANYS, VNSHealth, and our CHHA-member workgroup, this bill amends the CHHA EPS Medicaid rate methodology to authorize adjustments in the rates for costs (such as workforce, technology, other) not reflected in the reimbursable base year. It also makes the EPS rate method available for payor-provider use in rate setting for managed care and for non-Medicaid home care payors. The bills have just been amended to address the “EPS rate availability” portion of the proposal only (i.e., removing the EPS rate adjustment section) in an effort to ameliorate Assembly questions as to whether the bill would have state budget impacts. The Senate bill is currently in the Senate Finance Committee, while the Assembly bill remains in the Assembly Health Committee.
Mental Health/HomeCare Collaboration - S.997 (Brouk)
Written by HCANYS, this bill allows regulatory, procedural and reimbursement flexibility to facilitate collaborative care by mental health and home health agencies partnering to deliver seamless, coordinated care to individuals with co-occurring conditions. HCANYS has issued a memorandum in support of this legislation which is currently in the Senate Mental Health Committee. HCANYS continues discussions with the Legislature and has conducted calls with both the State Office of Mental Health and State Department of Health to discuss the legislation.
Community Medicine & Paramedicine (CMPM) Program Support
Written by HCANYS, this proposal ensures that CMPM pilot programs currently being conducted in seven regions of the state under a Mother Cabrini Health Foundation grant to HCANYS be allowed to operate with regulatory flexibility similar to the scope provided for community paramedicine programs under separate state law extended in this year’s State Budget. HCANYS continues active discussion of this proposal with the Chairs of the Health Committees in the Senate and Assembly.
HC/Hospice Workforce Labor Market Analysis A.3354 (Bronson)
Written by HCANYS, this bill requires an analysis of the competitive labor market for home care and hospice. The bill also requires recommendations to be made as to the level of reimbursement needed in the system to enable home care and hospice to recruit and retain sufficient staff to meet the community’s needs. The bill is in the Assembly Labor Committee. There has been no change in the status of this bill since last week's issue of the Situation Report.
LHCSA Statistical Report - S.7531 (C. Ryan) / A.7909 (Lunsford)
Written by HCANYS, this bill improves the process for filing the LHCSA Statistical Report with the NYS Department of Health (DOH) by providing LHCSAs with 90 days to submit the report. The bill advanced through the Senate Health Committee and is now on the Senate Calendar. HCANYS continues to work toward getting this bill to a vote of the full Senate before the end of session. In the Assembly, the bill is in the Health Committee and HCANYS advocacy continues there as well. Interestingly, in a recent DOH meeting with HCANYS and other associations representing the long-term care continuum, DOH indicated that it expects to release the necessary statistical report information by October 1 this year with a final deadline of December 31 (approximately 90 days later) in order to avoid a short form process this year. It is noteworthy that DOH made this announcement just one week after the bill advanced to the Senate Calendar.
Home Care Educational Materials for Veterans – S.7786-A (Addabbo) / A.7627-A (Kay)
Written by HCANYS, this bill authorizes the State Department of Veterans' Services to consult and collaborate with the federal department of veterans affairs, the department of health, the state office for the aging, and other HCBS experts (providers and associations) to develop educational materials for veterans and their families about accessibility to home and community-based services. This bill passed the Assembly (143-0) and is currently in the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. HCANYS is advocating on the Senate side to gain additional sponsors to help move this bill along.
Updates on Other Key State Legislation:
Hospital-HomeCare-Physician-EMS Collaboration Model - S.5333 (Rivera) / A.1309 (Paulin)
This bill authorizes the addition EMS services to Hospital-HomeCare-Physician Collaboration Program for a jointly partnered, collaborative community medicine and paramedicine service opportunity. This bill advanced through the Senate Health Committee on 5/28 and is now on the Senate Calendar. In the Assembly, the bill remains in the Assembly Health Committee. HCANYS issued a support memo to this bill in the past and is finalizing a memo in support again this year.
LHCSA RFO Repeal - S.7874 (Rivera) / A.8137 (Paulin)
Newly introduced bill that repeals the section of law that would require authorization for a LHCSA to enroll as a provider under the Medicaid program. HCANYS has strongly opposed this underlying “RFO” law from the outset, and supports this newly introduced bill to repeal it. In the Senate, the bill advanced to the Senate Finance Committee on 5/28. In the Assembly, the bill is in the Health Committee.
Restriction on Consecutive Nurse Hours - S.7994 (Ramos) / A.8615 (Bronson)
Newly introduced bill that adds home care visits to existing provisions of law prohibiting health care employers from requiring a nurse to work more than such nurse's regularly scheduled work hours, including regularly scheduled home care visits. This bill is in the Senate and Assembly Labor Committees. HCANYS issued opposition memos to this bill in the past and is finalizing a memo in opposition again this year.
CDPAP SFI - S.1189 (Rivera) / A.2735 (Stirpe)
Previously introduced legislation to replace the Single Statewide FI program with a State Licensure program allowing multiple FIs. This bill has advanced to the Senate Finance Committee. The bill has 56 sponsors in the Senate. In the Assembly, the bill has 39 sponsors and is in the Assembly Health Committee. It is uncertain if there will be further movement on this bill or on any other CDPAP/SFI legislation, especially since the federal government has now launched an investigation into the SFI transition process. HCANYS is continuing to work with both houses of the Legislature and the Executive to improve support for the CDPAP.
CDPAP SFI - S.7954 (Rivera) / A.8355 (Paulin)
Newly introduced bill that authorizes additional entities to serve as FIs in NYS. Bill is in the Senate and Assembly Health Committees. The bill now has 18 sponsors in the Senate and 41 sponsors in the Assembly. HCANYS is continuing to work with both houses of the Legislature and the Executive to improve support for the CDPAP.
Statewide Preceptor Stipend Program – S.4451 (Ashby) / A.2331 (McDonald)
This bill establishes a $5M preceptor stipend program for preceptor clinicians that are accepted into the program and requires that preceptors provide instruction in a clinical preceptorship. The amount of the preceptor stipend in the legislation is $5000. HCANYS supports this innovative legislation.
Capital District Preceptor Stipend Pilot Project – S.5660 (Fahy) / A.6616 (McDonald)
Similar to the bill above, this legislation establishes a preceptor stipend pilot program for New York’s Capital Region. HCANYS supports this innovative legislation.
Aid-in-Dying – S.138 (Hoylman-Sigal) / A.136 (Paulin)
This bill provides for the ability of mentally competent, terminally ill patients to request medication for the purpose of hastening the patient's death. The bill passed the Assembly (81-67) and is in the Senate Health Committee. The bill has 25 sponsors in the Senate and it has been reported that Senate leadership is reviewing the legislation and believes that there are enough votes in the Senate to pass the legislation.
Prohibition on For-Profit Hospice – S.3437 (Krueger) / A.565 (Paulin)
This bill prohibits the establishment of new for-profit hospices or increasing the capacity of existing for-profit hospices. The bill has passed both houses of the Legislature, but has not yet been delivered to the Governor for consideration. The same exact bill was vetoed by the Governor back in 2022. It is anticipated that the State Department of Health will be reviewing the legislation and that the Governor’s office will also request input from affected stakeholders in the coming weeks and months.
Reimbursement for DME – S.1616 (Rivera) / A.2520 (McDonald)
This bill requires Medicaid MCO’s to reimburse durable medical equipment providers at no less than 100% of the medical assistance DME and complex rehabilitation technology fee schedule for the same service or item. This bill advanced through the committee process in the Senate and is now on the Senate Calendar. In the Assembly, the bill advanced to the Rules Committee on June 6; it is scheduled to be on the Rules Committee meeting agenda for today, June 9.
Wage Parity Independently-Audited Financial Statement - S.674 (Martinez) / A.5115 (Stern)
This legislation requires the annual statement of wage parity hours and expenses to be accompanied by an independent accountant's report on applying agreed upon procedures (instead of the current more burdensome and costly independently-audited financial statement) on the annual compliance statement of wage parity, hours and expenses prior to payments for home care services by government agencies. HCANYS is supporting this legislation.
HCANYS will continue its advocacy efforts in the Legislature as the session heads into its final days. Please stay tuned to HCANYS for more information and updates.