S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  5497

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                            February 13, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  TITUS, SCARBOROUGH, MILLMAN, BARRON, JAFFEE,
  ROBINSON, CLARK, PEOPLES-STOKES -- Multi-Sponsored  by  --  M.  of  A.
  McENENY,  WEISENBERG  --  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:

  Section 1. 1. The commissioner of the office of  children  and  family
services shall contract with an external research organization to evalu-
ate the implementation and effectiveness of New York state's health care
delivery system for children in the care, custody or guardianship of the
office  of  children  and  family  services  or  local  social  services
districts pursuant to articles 3, 7 and 10 of the family  court  act  or
section  358-a,  384-a  or 384-b of the social services law.  The evalu-
ation shall include recommendations for improving the access to, and the
quality of, health and behavioral health services for  children  in  the
care,  custody  or  guardianship  of  the  office of children and family
services or the local social services district. Such commissioner  shall
select  such  research  organization pursuant to a request for proposals
process.  Preference shall be given to an organization based on adequacy
of the proposed research  design,  research  staff  qualifications,  and
availability  of  non-state  dollars  to  support the project, and other
criteria as determined by the commissioner of the office of children and
family services. The evaluation shall include, but not be limited to, an
examination of:
  (a) the quality of health and behavioral health services  provided  to
children  in the care, custody or guardianship of the office of children
and family services or the local social  services  district,  including,
but  not  limited to, whether children are receiving effective or neces-

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
A                                                          LBD07737-01-9

              

A. 5497                             2

sary treatment in a timely fashion and  in  accordance  with  the  regu-
lations of the office of children and family services;
  (b)  the  average  length  of  time from referrals for children in the
care, custody or guardianship of  the  office  of  children  and  family
services  or the local social services district, to receive treatment to
the date of initial treatment;
  (c) whether sufficient  information  is  provided  to  educate  foster
parents  on the health care delivery system for foster children, includ-
ing identification of providers and appropriate billing arrangements;
  (d) the existence and adequacy of current oversight practice regarding
health care services for children in the care, custody  or  guardianship
of  the  office  of  children  and  family  services or the local social
services district, including monitoring or record keeping  practices  of
voluntary agencies, social services districts, family courts, the office
of children and family services and the department of health;
  (e) whether foster children who receive health care coverage under the
medicaid  per-diem  system receive adequate health and behavioral health
services;
  (f) whether foster children who receive health care coverage under the
medicaid fee-for service system receive adequate health  and  behavioral
health services;
  (g)  to  what extent the medicaid per-diem is used in conjunction with
direct billing under fee-for service and whether this practice  provides
foster children with adequate health and behavioral health services;
  (h)  whether  foster children who receive health care services through
enrollment in a medicaid managed care plan receive adequate  health  and
behavioral health services;
  (i) whether any difficulties exist in accessing prescription drugs for
foster children;
  (j)  whether  foster  children  or foster parents are being billed for
health care services provided to foster children which should be covered
under medicaid;
  (k) the number of voluntary agencies throughout the state that provide
health care services to foster children in  their  care  through  health
care professionals employed by their agency;
  (l)  the  quality of health care provided by health care professionals
hired by voluntary agencies and the benefits  and  drawbacks  of  having
health care services provided by voluntary agencies;
  (m)  whether  children  leaving  foster  care or placement in juvenile
justice facilities, who would be otherwise eligible for medicaid  cover-
age  upon  leaving placement, experience difficulty in accessing transi-
tional medicaid coverage or medicaid coverage in the community; and
  (n) what barriers exist for children in the care, custody or guardian-
ship of the office of children and family services or the  local  social
services district, to access health care services in the community.
  2.  Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the selected organ-
ization shall have access to necessary non-identifiable  data  collected
by the office of children and family services, the department of health,
local  social  services  districts  and  voluntary  agencies,  and shall
collect supplemental data as needed to conduct a thorough and comprehen-
sive evaluation. Data collected shall not reveal the name, social  secu-
rity  number  or any other information which may be used to identify the
child or the family of the child.
  3. The commissioner of the office  of  children  and  family  services
shall submit a report detailing the findings of such study to the gover-
nor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly,

A. 5497                             3

and the chairperson of the senate committee on social services, children
and  families, the chairperson of the assembly committee on children and
families and the chairpersons of the senate and assembly  committees  on
health on or before June 30, 2011.
  S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.