County Government

Albany County Invited Everyone to a Nursing Home Party but No One’s Coming?

August 4, 2012 County

We’ve been waiting for Albany County to reveal what responses they got to their RFP’s regarding sale or management of the Albany County Nursing Home. The Times-Union grew impatient and filed a FOIL request. Here’s the TU’s story on what they learned. There were no bids to buy the facility and only one bid to […]

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We’re Back. But the County Nursing Home Issue Never Left

August 3, 2012 County

Well, I tried to take a vacation … While I was away, a friend tracked me down. He’s analyzing what a specific county (not to be named here) might and should do with their nursing home. A couple of things came up. The first and most interesting was the number of patients who had been […]

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Managed Long Term Care and the Implications for Public Nursing Homes

June 12, 2012 County Government

As we discussed earlier, New York (and many other states) is moving its Medicaid policy toward managed long-term care. Here’s an excerpt of what we wrote earlier: First, the State finally decided to bring the rest of the Medicaid population into some form of capitated, case-managed care. When the State originally imposed mandatory managed care […]

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The “Unfunded Mandate” Gig. What Would Real Government Reform in NY Look Like?

June 7, 2012 Administration

As they do from time-to-time, all over New York, county officials are screaming about “unfunded mandates.” Candidates for the State Legislature are touting reforming “unfunded mandates” as an essential part of their platform. Even aside from the funded unmandates (read that carefully) of county nursing homes that so many still wish to maintain and some […]

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More on, and a Possible Correction on IGT

June 7, 2012 Budget

Last week, we noted that the Federal government wants some of its IGT money back. I’m not, not, not going to try to explain how this program works or why and how counties put up $.50 on one day and the next day their nursing homes get back $1.00. But during the recession, counties only […]

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Other NYS County Nursing Homes Being Sold

June 6, 2012 Budget

Despite intense objections, the Essex County, NY Board of Supervisors has voted 12-6 to sell its nursing home, Horace Nye. The 100 bed facility loses about $2 million per year. The sale price is $4.05 million. Essex County is also seeking an increase in its sales tax rate (from 3.75 to 4.0 percent). Mere coincidence? […]

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Friday Afternoon Before a Holiday

May 25, 2012 Cash

Always release bad news late Friday before a holiday weekend. Right? Just a few minutes after posting about New York counties, including Albany, needing to repay the Federal government for excess payments received for their nursing homes, Albany County finally sent an update of their cash position. First look? Not as bad as it might […]

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Feds Want Their County Nursing Home (IGT) Money Back

May 25, 2012 County Government

The word is out that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has made a final decision and will be retroactively recovering “Intergovernmental Transfer” (IGT) funds from counties operating nursing homes in New York. This retroactive recovery goes all the way back to State fiscal year 2006-07. This will be partially counterbalanced by a small […]

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Albany County. Once Again Between a Nursing Home Rock & a Nursing Home Hard Place

May 22, 2012 County Government

Albany County Legislators are frustrated. They want to build a new nursing home, but they’ve bungled it repeatedly so they’re in a “no-man’s land” in the approval process. At the same time, Federal regulations require all Federally qualified nursing homes to have sprinklers by August of 2013. The only exception to the rule is when […]

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It’s Now Been Four Months Since Albany County, NY Knew (or Revealed) How Much Cash it Has

May 21, 2012 Cash

Following up on last month’s post on Albany County’s cash, we renewed our FOIL request. It’s now been four months and there’s still no response. The explanation given earlier was that the County doesn’t have the data because they’re in the midst of changing banks. I’ve tried that explanation on a number of public officials […]

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