As we reported in our annual series highlighting the various healthcare related provisions of the 2018-19 New York State Budget (here), the Enacted Budget reflects the state’s overall policy towards consolidation of the home care marketplace.  Nowhere is the effort to force consolidation more apparent than in the Licensed Home Care Services Agencies (LHCSA) space.  The Enacted Budget has imposed a two-year moratorium on new approvals, a limit on the number of LHCSAs with which Managed Long Term Care Plans (MLTCP) can contract and a new requirement that in the future LHCSA applicants will need to demonstrate “public need” and “financial feasibility” for a post-moratorium certificate of need.  As explained below, however, there may yet be hope for LHCSA applicants and projects that were in the pipeline prior to the moratorium if they fit within one of the three narrow statutory exceptions to the moratorium.  In this article we explore the recent history of LHCSAs in New York, as well as the recent guidance offered by the New York State Department of Health (“DOH”) on how these new restrictions will be implemented.

LHCSAs were subject to a prior moratorium until 2010, when that moratorium was ended by DOH.  The rapid growth in number of LHCSAs since that time can be attributed to a number of factors, including New York’s aging population, the trend away from inpatient long-term care, the “age in place” movement, and the fact that, up until this year, there was no “public need” or “financial feasibility” requirements in order to obtain a certificate of need for a LHCSA.  There are currently over 1,400 LHCSAs authorized to provide hourly nursing care, assistance with activities of daily living and other health and social services to New York’s low-income elderly and disabled populations – though the number actually providing services is unknown.  As noted by Crain’s Health Pulse on April 23, 2018, the most recent employment figures for the home care industry, which includes Certified Home Health Agencies (CHHA), show the sector has been growing at a breakneck pace.  In the past five years alone, home health employers have added 72,600 jobs in New York.  And, for the first time ever, the number of people employed in the home health sector in New York City (167,000) has surpassed the number employed by private hospitals in New York City (166,300).  In contrast, and highlighting the increasing demand for homecare services over inpatient long term care services, nursing home employment is on the decline.

As a result of this growth, the general sentiment among DOH officials appears to be that there are once again too many LHCSAs; hence the reforms included in the 2018-19 Enacted Budget.  Ostensibly, DOH believes that fewer providers will reduce waste, inefficiency, and the opportunity for fraud.  Industry advocates, on the other hand, maintain that efforts to consolidate the industry ignore the fact that home care is provided locally and should therefore be locally run, and that various cultural and special needs communities require individualized boutique services that larger consolidated firms may not be able to accommodate.

While the general effort to consolidate the LHCSA marketplace and home care in general was not unexpected, the rather abrupt implementation of these provisions has clearly caught the industry’s major stakeholders off guard.  If the colloquy among the members of the Public Health and Health Planning Committee’s (PHHPC) Establishment and Project Review Committee (EPRC) at its April 12, 2018 meeting is any indicator (click here for the video and transcript), neither the EPRC nor the estimated 350 or so LHCSAs with applications pending before the PHHPC or in the pipeline were aware that these changes were forthcoming.  Indeed, less than three weeks earlier, at a meeting of the EPRC on March 22, 2018, the EPRC approved some 22 LHCSA applications for presentation to the full PHHPC for final approval.  On April 12, however, the EPRC was asked to consider a motion withdrawing that approval and deferring action on those applications, and 12 additional applications, until the DOH had time to consider them in the context of the moratorium.  After some confusion, the motion was withdrawn without comment and the 22 previously approved applications were sent to the full PHHPC, where they were ultimately deferred pending evaluation under then yet-to-be drafted guidelines on exceptions to the moratorium.  There was one new piece of information offered at the meeting – in response to concern that the two-year period of the moratorium seems arbitrary, Deputy Commissioner Sheppard noted the period was “specifically determined as the period of time that the Department would need to develop and promulgate regulations establishing a full need methodology for the approval of LHCSAs, including a determination of public need and financial feasibility.”  It is also clear that DOH intends to use the two-year period to collect data under the Enacted Budget’s new registration and cost reporting provisions, which went into effect to “better understand” the existing LHCSA marketplace and as part of its public need and financial feasibility formula moving forward.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that a moratorium affecting submitted and future applications has been imposed.  The DOH imposed a moratorium on CHHAs between 1994-2000, as well as a moratorium on LHCSAs between 2008-2010 (as noted).  In 2000, the DOH imposed a moratorium on the processing of all pending nursing home applications which had yet to receive final approval and begin construction in order to study public need in light of perceived oversupply.  The nursing home moratorium was challenged multiple times in State Supreme Court by aggrieved applicants and repeatedly upheld by the Second and Third Departments.  See, e.g., Matter of Urban Strategies v. Novello, 297 A.D.2d 745 (2d Dept. 2002) and Jay Alexander Manor Inc. v. Novello, 285 A.D.2d 951 (3d Dept. 2001).  One interesting distinction between previous moratoria on LHCSAs, CHHAs and nursing homes and the instant moratorium on LHCSAs is that the former were imposed by the DOH under its discretionary enforcement and regulatory authority, whereas the latter was enacted by the Legislature through its inherent power to regulate health and welfare.  Whether the instant moratorium, which will arguably be more difficult to defeat given its origin, will face a court challenge remains to be seen.

Until the expiration of the LHCSA moratorium on March 31, 2020, however, only those applications which fit within one of three exceptions will be processed: (1) the ALP Related Exception; (2) the Change of Ownership Related Exception; and (3) the Serious Need Exception.  In early May, the DOH released guidance documents, as well as new applications and instructions related to these three statutory exceptions.  The statutory language containing the exceptions and the recent guidance provided by DOH are summarized below.

• ALP Related Exceptions.

Statutory Language:

(a) an application seeking licensure of a licensed home care services agency that is submitted with an application for approval as an assisted living program authorized pursuant to section 461-l of the social services law.

Additional information from DOH Guidance and Revised Application:

• The ALP application must have been submitted to the Department and an application number issued, that number must be included in the applicant’s submission.
• Ownership of the LHCSA must be identical to the ownership of the ALP.
• Approval will be limited to serving the residents of the associated ALP. Therefore, the application may request only the county in which the ALP resides as the county to be served.
• The application must include an attestation acknowledging that the approval will be limited to serving the residents of the associated ALP.

 

• Change of Ownership Related Exceptions.

Statutory Language:

(b)  an  application seeking  approval  to  transfer  ownership for an existing licensed home care services agency that has been licensed and operating for a  minimum of  five years for the purpose of consolidating ownership of two or more licensed home care services agencies.

Additional information from DOH Guidance and Revised Application:

• Only changes in ownership that consolidate two or more LHCSAs may be accepted during the moratorium. Consolidate means reducing the number of LHCSA license numbers, not a reduction in the number of sites operated under a license number.  A LHCSA license number, for this purpose, is the first four digits, before the “L”.  The application must include all sites of the to‐be‐acquired agency.
• LHCSAs to be acquired must be currently operational and have been in operation at least five years.
• The application must request approval to acquire all of the sites of the existing agency.
• The application must include an attestation and statistical report data verifying the seller(s) is/are operational and has/have been for a minimum of five years, which shall include:
  • the number of patients served in each county for which they are approved to serve and the number and types of staff employed, currently and in each of the previous five years.
  • A statement that reads “In accordance with the requirements of 10 NYCRR 765-2.3 (g) {Agency Name} will promptly surrender their Licensed Home Care Services Agency license(s) to the NYS Department of Health when they cease providing home care services.”
  • A statement that that indicates the operator understands that the actual transfers of ownership interest may not occur until after all necessary approvals are acquired from the DOH and the PHHPC

• If an existing LHCSA is purchasing one or more LHCSAs, the buyer must also currently be operational per 10 NYCRR Section 765‐3(g).  The application must include an attestation and statistical report data verifying the buyer is currently operational, which shall include:
  • the number of patients served in each county for which they are approved to serve and the number and types of staff employed, currently and in each of the previous five years.

Examples of Qualifying Change of Ownership Applications  

• An existing LHCSA purchases one or more separately licensed existing LHCSAs. Upon approval, the purchased LHCSAs licenses must be surrendered and their sites become additional sites of the purchasing LHCSA.
• A new corporation (not currently licensed as a LHCSA) purchases two or more existing LHCSAs. One new license is issued, with the purchased LHCSAs licenses being surrendered and their sites becoming sites of the newly licensed LHCSA.

Examples of Non‐Qualifying Changes in Ownership Applications  

• A new proposed operator replaces the current operator of a LHCSA.
• A new controlling entity is established at a level above the current operator.
  • During the moratorium, the change or addition of controlling persons above the operator does not qualify under the exception criteria. As such, if the controlling person/entity chooses to submit an affidavit attesting they will refrain from exercising control over the LHCSA (see 10 NYCRR Section 765-1.14(a)(2) for required affidavit language) until the moratorium is lifted and an application can be submitted, processed, and approved, then the corporate transaction may proceed. Within 30 days of the moratorium being lifted, the agency must submit an application for PHHPC approval of the controlling person.
• A partial change in ownership requiring Public Health and Health Planning Council approval.
  • Transfers of ownership (full or partial) due to the death of an owner, partner, stockholder, member without the consolidation of LHCSA licenses, does not qualify under the exemption criteria. However, in accordance with section 401 of the State Administrative Procedure Act (SAPA), the LHCSA may continue to operate until the Moratorium is lifted and an application may be submitted, unless other sections of regulation or law require otherwise.

• Serious Concern Exceptions:

Statutory Language:

(c)  an  application  seeking licensure  of  a  home  care  services agency where the applicant demonstrates  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  commissioner  of  health   that submission  of  the application to the public health and health planning council for consideration would  be  appropriate  on  grounds  that  the application addresses a serious concern such as a lack of access to home care services in the geographic area or a lack of adequate and appropriate  care,  language and cultural competence, or special needs services.

Additional information from DOH Guidance and Revised Application:

• There is a presumption of adequate access if there are two or more LHCSAs already approved in the proposed county.
• Approved LHCSAs include those that are operational and those approved but not‐yet‐
• If there are two or more LHCSAs in the requested county:

• the applicant must articulate the population to be served for which there is a lack of access to licensed home care services;
• the applicant must submit substantial, data‐driven proof of lack of access to the population (demographics, disposition and referral source for targeted patient population, level of care and visits required, payor mix, etc.);
• the applicant must provide satisfactory documentation that no existing LHCSA in the county can provide services to the population;
• if more than one county is requested, the application must include all required material for each county individually;
• the applicant may request to operate in up to five counties, only.

 

The first round of applications to be processed under this framework occurred at the May 17, 2018 meeting of the PHHPC  (Link to video and agenda).  Those of us looking for additional insight on how the new guidance would be applied by DOH and evaluated by the PHHPC in practice were left wanting, as the entire discussion regarding LHCSAs encompassed less than two minutes of the nearly three-hour meeting.  Notably, the five applications considered and approved at the hearing (as a batch) were all within the ALP Related Exception.  They included:

Elderwood Home Care at Wheatfield

Elderwood Home Care at Williamsville

Western NY Care Services, LLC

Home Care for Generations, LLC

Magnolia Home Care Services

While it may be coincidence, this suggests that DOH and PHHPC have either prioritized LHCSA applications fitting within the ALP Related Exception, or that these types of applications are the simplest to identify and review.

In addition to the guidance on exceptions to the moratorium, DOH has also recently released guidance on the Enacted Budget’s limitations on the number of LHCSAs with which MLTCPs can contract.  As noted in our previous post (here), beginning October 1, 2018, the Commissioner of Health may limit the number of LHCSAs with which an MLTCP may contract, according to a formula tied to (1) MLTCP region, (2) number of MLTCP enrollees,  and (3) timing (the number changes on October 1, 2019).  Exceptions are allowed if necessary to (a) maintain network adequacy, (b) maintain access to special needs services, (c) maintain access to culturally competent services, (d) avoid disruption in services, or (e) accede to an enrollee’s request to continue to receive services from a particular LHCSA employee or employees for no longer than three months.

DOH guidance issued on April 26 to plan administrators (link here), explains the formula that will be used to calculate the number of LHCSAs with which an MLTCP can contract. MLTCPs operating in the City of New York and/or the counties of Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester may enter into contracts with LHCSAs in such region at a maximum number calculated based upon the following methodology:

1. As of October 1, 2018, one contract per seventy-five members enrolled in the plan within such region; and
2. As of October 1, 2019, one contract per one hundred members enrolled in the plan

within such region.

MLTCPs operating in counties other than those in the city of New York and the counties of Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester may enter into contracts with LHCSAs in such region at a maximum number calculated based upon the following methodology:

1. As of October 1, 2018, one contract per forty-five members enrolled in the plan within such region; and
2. As of October 1, 2019, one contract per sixty members enrolled in the plan within such region.

Additionally, the DOH confirmed that in instances where limits on contracts may result in the enrollee’s care being transferred from one LHCSA to another, and in the event the enrollee wants to continue to be cared for by the same worker(s), the MLTC plan may contract with the enrollee’s current LHCSA for the purpose of continuing the enrollee’s care by that worker(s). These types of contracts shall not count towards the limits mentioned above for a period of three months.

The next big revelation expected from the DOH vis a vis LHCSA restrictions are the parameters by which “financial feasibility” and “public need” will be determined for purposes of issuing certificates of need once the moratorium is over.  As those regulations become available, we will provide a further update.  If you have questions about whether your project may satisfy the requirements of one of the above exception, or you would like to be part of the conversation with the DOH as the framework for the new CON methodology is developed, contact Farrell Fritz’s Regulatory & Government Relations Practice Group at 518.313.1450 or NYSRGR@FarrellFritz.com.