Policy & Advocacy
CHCANYS works tirelessly to inform health care policy at the state and national levels, and to ensure that community health centers receive the resources they need to continue to provide high-quality, community-based health care to all New Yorkers. In addition to serving as the voice of New York’s community health centers, CHCANYS is also a resource for up-to-date, accurate information regarding regulatory changes, public funding opportunities, and other key matters of interest to centers.
After meeting with elected officials please fill out a Constituent Report Form! It is a great way to inform CHCANYS on how your meetings went and if there is anything CHCANYS should follow up on.
Urban Institute Report Finds Medicaid Rates Put NYS Community Health Centers at Risk
CHCANYS supports policies and legislation at the federal, state, and local level that support community health centers and advance health equity for all New Yorkers. See below for CHCANYS’s ongoing legislative priorities and memos of support. For any questions, please reach out to Marie Mongeon, Vice President, Policy and Jane Ni, Assistant Director, Policy.
CHCANYS Authored Legislation
Community Health Center Rate Reform A.7560 (Paulin)/S.6959 (Rivera)
Today, CHCs deliver a full spectrum of comprehensive primary care services, including addressing social needs such as housing, transportation, and food insecurity. These services were never envisioned when CHCs’ base rate was developed over 20 years ago. This legislation directs the Commissioner of Health to update community health center rates to reflect the new, expanded model of health and social care that is the hallmark of CHCs.
Community Health Center Telehealth Payment Parity A.7316 (Paulin)/S.6733 (Rivera)
Telehealth is a critical access point to healthcare for many low-income and underserved communities and has become integral to the CHC care model, empowering patients to choose the visit type that best suits their needs on a given day or for a given condition. This legislation will ensure community health centers licensed under Article 28 of the public health law are fully reimbursed when conducting services via telehealth regardless of modality and patient or provider location.
Other
340B Prescription Drug Anti-Discrimination Act S.8992 (Rivera)
340B Prescription Drug Anti-Discrimination Act A.7789 (Paulin)
It is imperative that NY safeguards the integrity of the 340B program and ensure CHCs continue to have access to 340B benefits during this time when pharmaceutical manufacturers, PBMs, and other related entities have taken steps to diminish the program to increase their own profits.
Add Dentists to DANY S.4334 (Sepulveda)/A.1454 (Aubry)
Expanding the Doctors Across New York (DANY) program to include dentists will incentivize dentists to practice in underserved areas and thereby advance DANY’s goals of ensuring patients in underserved areas have more equitable access to dental services.
Add Establish Absentee Ballot Drop-off Locations A.7243 (Simone)/S.610 (Hoylman-Sigal)
One of the most important rights of American citizens is the right to vote. However, many people face barriers to exercising their right to vote. This legislation would increase voter access which would authorize local Boards of Elections to establish absentee ballot drop-off locations, providing more accessible and convenient locations to physically deliver an absentee ballot in areas where post offices or physical polling sites are not conveniently located or have long wait times.
Allow Dental Assistants and LPNs to Apply Fluoride Varnish A.7402 (People-Stokes)
Comprehensive health and well-being cannot be achieved without expanding access to oral health care. This bill will expand access to preventative dental services and help to alleviate New York’s dental workforce shortage.
Allow Physician Assistants to Serve as PCPs for Medicaid Managed Care Plans A.7725 (Paulin)/S.2124 (Rivera)
Physician assistants are already recognized as primary care practitioners by Medicare and commercial insurers for the vital role they play in delivering comprehensive whole person health care services. This legislation would allow physician assistants to serve as primary care practitioners for Medicaid managed care plans.
Codify Medicaid Dental Coverage Expansions A.8983 (Paulin)/S.7667 (Cleare)
Codifying the Medicaid dental coverage expansion to cover root canals, crowns, replacement dentures, and dental implants when medically necessary will increase access to preventive dental care, promote positive oral health outcomes and overall well-being.
Collect Dental Practitioner Data A.8439 (Woerner)/ S.9215 (Stavisky)
Requiring dentists to submit data regarding their practice and patients served during their triennial registration will provide a better picture of New York’s dental landscape and needs.
Comprehensive Sexuality Education for All New Yorkers A.4604 (Gonzalez-Rojas)
Everyone deserves access to information and resources to make informed decisions about their health. This legislation would ensure that all young New Yorkers will have the information and resources needed to make healthy and informed decisions about their health and well-being by requiring all schools to provide age-appropriate K-12 comprehensive sexuality education.
Coverage for All New Yorkers A.3020B (Gonzalez-Rojas)/S.2237B (Rivera)
Every New Yorker should have access to the care they need to live a healthy life. This legislation would create a state-funded Essential Plan that would provide healthcare coverage for individuals who are currently excluded due to their immigration status.
Establish the Reproductive Freedom and Equity Program A.361B (Gonzalez-Rojas)/S.348B (Cleare)
Increasing and expanding access to reproductive healthcare is critical to advancing health equity. This legislation would establish the Reproductive Freedom and Equity program to ensure that all New Yorkers and people across the country will be able to access reproductive healthcare.
Exempt Oral Hygiene Products from Sales Tax A.8415 (Woerner)/S.8349 (Brouk)
Incentivizing oral health product purchasing by reducing its price can help individuals access and utilize the benefits of products that encourage primary prevention, early detection, and management of dental disease.
Foreign Dentist Licensure Requirements A.8363A (Woerner)/S.9216 (Stavisky)
Foreign trained dentists are underemployed and not being utilized to their fullest extent. Incentivizing foreign trained dentists to practice at a time when communities across New York need more access to dental care is imperative to improving oral health outcomes.
Good Cause Eviction A.4454 (Hunter)/S.305 (Salazar)
All New Yorkers deserve safe and stable housing, and providing access to stable housing is critical to improving health outcomes. This legislation would protect New Yorkers’ right to stay in their homes by granting every tenant in New York State baseline protections against unjust evictions and unreasonable rent increases.
Health Care Transformation Fund A.7182 (Paulin)/S.5658 (Rivera)
Historically, community-based providers receive far less State investment compared to the dollars available to hospitals. Additionally, nonprofit community-based providers have fewer resources to dedicate to funding staff or consultant support to respond to State funding opportunities as compared to hospitals that have more resources. This legislation will permanently ensure that CHCs and other community based providers receive at least a minimal share of the Health Care Transformation Funds to support their ongoing viability and efforts to improve patient outcomes, expand access to care, and lower costs.
Interstate Medical Licensure Compact A.4860 (Palmesano)/S.2216 (O’Mara)
New York State is facing unprecedented levels of workforce shortages. Joining the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact would greatly ameliorate the healthcare provider shortage by streamlining the process to allow physicians to practice in New York. This legislation would allow New York to become a member of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.
Licensing Dental Therapy A.5373 Woerner/S.4428 (Fernandez)
By licensing and providing reimbursement for dental therapy, NY can expand access to preventive dental services and address the increasing demand for dental services. Dental therapists are mid-level providers who can provide preventive and restorative care including health education, prophylaxis, x-rays, cavity fillings, temporary crown placements, and tooth extractions.
Make the Nurse Practitioner Modernization Act Permanent S.7872 (Rivera)
This legislation calls for the passage of S.7872 to make the Nurse Practitioner Modernization Act permanent, ensuring that Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are afforded the flexibility to continue to serve New Yorkers in their current capacity.
Managed Long-Term Care Automatic Enrollment and Recertification Simplification A.5980A (Paulin)/S.4622B (Rivera)
Navigating the healthcare systems can often be complex and burdensome for many people. This legislation would provide for automatic enrollment and simplify recertification for Medicaid eligible recipients in long-term care. Doing so will simplify a burdensome process for members and eliminate many delays and disruptions of care.
Oral Health Public Awareness Campaign A.8365 (Woerner)/S.8348 (Brouk)
Establishing an oral health public awareness campaign that disseminates important oral health information and how to practice good oral hygiene will lead to better oral health outcomes and positively impact quality of life.
Reform OMIG Audits A.6813 (Paulin)/S.5329A (Harckham)
Medicaid providers and consumers need greater transparency and protections related to audits performed by the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG). This bill will ensure that OMIG can perform its essential functions while creating protections and procedures and that allows Medicaid service providers to continue delivering high-quality, life-saving services throughout New York.
Working Families Tax Credit S.277A (Gounardes)/A.4022A (Hevesi)
Working family refundable tax credits are one important means of building family economic security and independence and pulling families and children out of poverty. This legislation will expand New York’s child tax credit, thereby increasing opportunities for New York’s children to thrive.
CHCANYS’ mission is to champion community-centered primary care through leadership, advocacy, and support of community health centers so that every community has primary care that encompasses all aspects of patient health and well-being. To safeguard and sustain the ability of CHCs to provide quality affordable health care services, advocacy is paramount to ensuring that CHCs, patients, and communities across New York State have a voice in the process and critical decisions being made by policymakers.
For more policy & advocacy documents and video recordings, including archived materials, check out our library page