Immediate Advocacy Needed: Contact Your NYS Senators and Assembly Members re: Uncompensated Care Pool Funding-

Immediate Action Needed: Contact Your NYS Senators and Assembly Members re: Uncompensated Care Pool Funding

Please reach out to your NYS Senators and Assembly Members immediately and ask them to urge Senate and Assembly leadership to include $54.4 million in contingency funding in the FY 2016-17 NYS Budget to compensate for the shortfall in 2015 Clinic Uncompensated Care Pool (UCP) federal funding. Final budget negotiations are currently underway, so time is of the essence!

Thanks to your advocacy efforts, both the Senate and the Assembly included proposals in their one-house bills to allocate $54.4 million in contingency funding in the event that CMS does not renew the UCP federal match. However, State funds for health care projects are very tight and with competing priorities, we need to ensure that this contingency funding is seen as a priority budget item for the Legislature. Given the fast pace of the negotiations now taking place, it is extremely important that you call your NYS Senators and Assembly Members TODAY and tell them:

• Please speak with Senate/Assembly leadership immediately about the importance of allocating $54.4 million in contingency funding for the Clinic Uncompensated Care Pool (UCP) in the final FY 2016-17 budget, as proposed in the one-house bill.
• The Governor’s FY 2016-17 Executive budget includes the $54.4 million state share of UCP funding for 2016-17. However, there is currently a $54.4 million gap in funding because the UCP federal match expired at the end of 2014 and the State has not secured an extension from CMS for 2015 or beyond.
• The UCP is comprised of state funding with equal federal matching funding. Since 2011, the pool has totaled $108 million – $54.4 million in state funding and $54.4 million in federal funding.
• Nearly 25% FQHCs and other community-based providers that rely on these funds are currently experiencing operational deficits. Unless the State allocates $54.4 million in contingency funding to fill the 2015 gap, these health centers will be forced to reduce staff, eliminate expansion plans and/or limit clinic hours.

• These changes will hurt the most vulnerable New Yorkers and reduce access to care at a time when New York State is seeking to expand access to primary care services, reduce unnecessary hospitalizations, and improve health outcomes.

With assistance from Congress, CHCANYS is currently applying pressure on CMS to expedite its decision regarding renewal of this match, but we are also seeking contingency funding from the State to make health centers whole in the event that the federal funds continue to be delayed or are not approved. Conversations are happening very quickly, and your immediate assistance on this matter is critical. Help us ensurethat New York’s FQHCs have the resources necessary to provide high-quality primary care to all patients who walk through their doors, regardless of insurance status – call your NYS Senators and Assembly Members NOW! To locate their contact information, click here.

Please reach out to me at bgrossman@chcanys.org or Lacey Clarke at lclarke@chcanys.org with any questions.

Thank you,

Beverly Grossman

Senior Policy Director