Empire State Today

FY 2024 Budget Invests in High-Quality Health Care; Addresses Disparities and Pressing Health Care Needs for New Yorkers

Budget Includes Largest Increase in Medicaid Reimbursement Rates for Hospitals, Nursing Homes, and Assisted Living Facilities in Two Decades

Governor Kathy Hochul on May 3, 2023, announced the passage of transformative measures to create a stronger health care system for New York State, both today and into the future, as part of the FY 2024 Enacted Budget. The Enacted Budget provides an additional $22 billion multi-year investment to support the State’s health care system, including an additional $1 billion in health care capital funding for providers and expanded Medicaid benefits for more than 7.8 million low-income New Yorkers.

"Through New York’s nation-leading health care system, we continue the important work of eliminating disparities and ensuring everyone in our state has access to the best care available,” Governor Hochul said. “These initiatives will improve the quality of our health care system, make access to care more equitable, and ensure we are well-prepared to address the future health care needs throughout New York State.”

The FY 2024 Enacted Budget includes substantial Medicaid reimbursement rate increases – a 7.5 percent increase for inpatient hospital services, an up to 7.5 percent increase for nursing homes, and a 6.5 percent increase for outpatient hospital services and assisted living providers, marking the largest rate increase in two decades. This transformational change to stabilize New York State’s health care system will result in a $1.2 billion annual gross benefit to health care providers, on top of a State investment of $500 million to support financially distressed hospitals.

The Budget provides a $1 billion multi-year health care capital program to drive transformative health care investments, including $500 million to support investments in technology and cybersecurity.

The Budget invests $1.7 billion to fully fund the consolidation of Wadsworth Laboratories' five unconnected sites to one site on the W. Averell Harriman Campus in Albany by 2030. This consolidation will ensure that our nation-leading public health research laboratory remains on the cutting-edge of biomedical and environmental research critical to protecting the health of New Yorkers.

As part of Governor Hochul’s focus on health equity, this year’s Budget includes a $419 million gross investment to improve coverage and expand access to preventive and primary care services for Medicaid beneficiaries. These investments include coverage of doulas, community health workers, nutritionists, therapy services for children, and screenings for children and pregnant individuals, access to supportive housing, and increased rates for primary care, school-based health centers, and vaccine administration, among other funding.

The Budget also includes a $120 million gross investment to expand the Medicaid buy-in program beginning in FY2025 so that more New Yorkers with disabilities can work and still qualify for their health care coverage.

To protect children in the highest risk areas across the state from lead poisoning, the Budget provides $39 million to reduce the risk of lead exposure in rental properties. Local health departments will implement a new housing inspection and enforcement program that requires owners of two-family and multi-family rental units built before 1980 to certify their unit as lead safe every three years in 24 high-priority and high-risk municipalities.

The Budget makes significant investments to strengthen the EMS system. This includes investing $8 million to revitalize the state's Emergency Medical Services system and a $36 million gross investment to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for medical transportation.

The Budget supports the creation of a new nation-leading health monitoring and surveillance system to inform targeted and appropriate responses to public health crises and to drive broader health care insight by investing $28 million in the next two years to begin building a new platform that combines real-time health information with other key data like social and chronic condition risk factors, along with additional investments to increase electronic health record connectivity.

The Budget also includes an increase to the cigarette tax by $1.00, to reduce tobacco use -- especially amongst young people – and incentivize quitting. This will make NYS the state with the strongest cigarette tax in the nation.

Original source can be found here.