STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8592 IN ASSEMBLY January 12, 2024 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Insurance AN ACT to amend the insurance law and the social services law, in relation to primary care investment The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The insurance law is amended by adding a new section 3217-k 2 to read as follows: 3 § 3217-k. Primary care spending. (a) Definitions. As used in this 4 section, the following terms shall have the following meanings: 5 (1) "Overall healthcare spending" means the total cost of care for the 6 patient population of a payor or provider entity for a given calendar 7 year, where cost is calculated for such year as the sum of (A) all 8 claims-based spending paid to providers by public and private payors and 9 (B) all non-claim payments for such year, including, but not limited to, 10 incentive payments and care coordination payments. 11 (2) "Plan or payor" means every insurance entity providing managed 12 care products, individual comprehensive accident and health insurance or 13 group or blanket comprehensive accident and health insurance, as defined 14 in this chapter, corporation organized under article forty-three of this 15 chapter providing comprehensive health insurance, entity licensed under 16 article forty-four of this chapter providing comprehensive health insur- 17 ance, every other plan over which the department has jurisdiction, and 18 every third-party payor providing health coverage. 19 (3) "Primary care" means integrated, accessible healthcare, provided 20 by clinicians accountable for addressing most of a patient's healthcare 21 needs, developing a sustained partnership with patients, and practicing 22 in the context of family and community. 23 (4) "Primary care services" means services provided in an outpatient, 24 non-emergency setting by or under the supervision of a physician, nurse 25 practitioner, physician assistant, or midwife, who is practicing general 26 primary care in the following fields, including as evidenced by billing 27 and reporting codes: family practice; general pediatrics; primary care 28 internal medicine; primary care obstetrics; or primary care gynecology. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03591-04-3
A. 8592 2 1 Behavioral or mental health and substance use disorder services are 2 included in primary care services when integrated into a primary care 3 setting, including when provided by a behavioral healthcare psychia- 4 trist, social worker or psychologist. Primary care services shall not 5 include inpatient services, emergency department services, ambulatory 6 surgical center services, or services provided in an urgent care setting 7 that are billed with non-primary care billing and reporting codes. 8 (5) "Primary care spending" means any expenditure of funds made by 9 third party payors, public entities, or the state, for the purpose of 10 paying for primary care services directly or paying to improve the 11 delivery of primary care. Primary care spending includes all payment 12 methods, such as fee-for-service, capitation, incentives, value-based 13 payments or other methodologies, and all non-claim payments including 14 but not limited to incentive payments and care coordination payments. 15 Any spending shall be adjusted appropriately to exclude any portion of 16 the expenditure that is reasonably attributed to inpatient services or 17 other non-primary care services. 18 (b) Reporting. (1) Beginning on April first, two thousand twenty-five, 19 each plan or payor as defined in this section shall annually report to 20 the department the percentage of the plan or payor's overall annual 21 healthcare spending that constituted primary care spending. 22 (2) Nothing herein shall require any plan or payor to report or 23 publicly disclose any specific rates of reimbursement for any specific 24 primary care services. 25 (3) No plan or payor shall require any healthcare provider to provide 26 additional data or information in order to fulfill this reporting 27 requirement. 28 (c) Regulation and publication. (1) The commissioner of health and the 29 superintendent shall each promulgate consistent regulations to carry out 30 the provisions of this section, including but not limited to setting 31 deadlines for the reporting required in this section, and adopting 32 further specific definitions of the primary care services for which 33 costs must be reported under this section, including specific billing 34 and reporting codes. 35 (2) The department of health and the department shall together provide 36 an annual report to the legislature with a summary of the primary care 37 spending data required in this section, and shall also make the report 38 publicly available on both agencies' websites, no later than three 39 months after the data has been collected. The first annual report shall 40 provide the spending information without identifying any individual 41 payor or plan's primary care spending. Each year thereafter, the report 42 spending data shall be published including information specific to each 43 plan or payor. 44 (d) Primary care spending. (1) Beginning on April first, two thousand 45 twenty-six, each plan or payor that reports less than twelve and one- 46 half percent of its total expenditures on physical and mental health is 47 primary care spending, as defined by this section, shall additionally 48 submit to the superintendent a plan to increase primary care spending as 49 a percentage of its total overall healthcare spending by at least one 50 percent each year. Beginning on April first, two thousand twenty-seven 51 and on April first of every subsequent year after such plan has been 52 submitted, and until such time as the plan or payor's reported primary 53 care spending is equal to or more than twelve and one-half percent of 54 that plan or payor's overall healthcare spending, the plan or payor's 55 annual reporting shall include information regarding steps that have 56 been taken to increase its proportion of primary care spending.
A. 8592 3 1 (2) The commissioner of health and the superintendent may jointly 2 issue guidelines or promulgate regulations regarding the areas on which 3 primary care spending could be increased, including but not limited to: 4 (A) reimbursement; 5 (B) capacity-building, technical assistance and training; 6 (C) upgrading technology, including electronic health record systems 7 and telehealth capabilities; 8 (D) incentive payments, including but not limited to per-member-per- 9 month, value-based-payment arrangements, shared savings, quality-based 10 payments, risk-based payments; and 11 (E) transitioning to value-based-payment arrangements. 12 § 2. The social services law is amended by adding a new section 368-g 13 to read as follows: 14 § 368-g. Primary care spending. 1. Definitions. As used in this 15 section the terms "overall healthcare spending", "plan or payor", 16 "primary care", "primary care services" and "primary care spending" 17 shall have the same meanings as such terms are defined in section thir- 18 ty-two hundred seventeen-k of the insurance law. 19 2. Reporting. (a) Beginning on April first, two thousand twenty-five, 20 each Medicaid managed care provider under section three hundred sixty- 21 four-j of this title and any payor that provides coverage through Medi- 22 caid fee-for-service, as such term is defined in paragraph (e) of subdi- 23 vision thirty-eight of section two of this chapter, shall annually 24 report to the department the percentage of the provider's overall annual 25 healthcare spending that constituted primary care spending. 26 (b) Nothing herein shall require any Medicaid managed care provider to 27 report or publicly disclose any specific rates of reimbursement for any 28 specific primary care services. 29 (c) No Medicaid managed care provider shall require any healthcare 30 provider to provide additional data or information in order to fulfill 31 this reporting requirement. 32 3. Primary care spending. (a) Beginning on April first, two thousand 33 twenty-six, and in each subsequent year, each Medicaid managed care 34 provider under section three hundred sixty-four-j of this title and any 35 payor that provides coverage through Medicaid fee-for-service, as such 36 term is defined in paragraph (e) of subdivision thirty-eight of section 37 two of this chapter, that reports less than twelve and one-half percent 38 of its total expenditures on physical and mental health are on primary 39 care spending shall additionally submit to the commissioner a plan to 40 increase primary care spending as a percentage of its total overall 41 healthcare spending by at least one percent each year. Beginning on 42 April first, two thousand twenty-seven, and in each subsequent year 43 thereafter, until twelve and one-half percent of that provider or 44 payor's expenditures are on primary care spending, the payor or provid- 45 er's annual reporting under this section shall include information on 46 steps that have been taken to increase their proportion of primary care 47 spending. 48 (b) The commissioner and the superintendent of financial services may 49 jointly issue guidelines or promulgate regulations regarding the areas 50 on which spending could be increased, including but not limited to: 51 (i) reimbursement; 52 (ii) capacity-building, technical assistance and training; 53 (iii) upgrading technology, including electronic health record systems 54 and telehealth capabilities;
A. 8592 4 1 (iv) incentive payments, including but not limited to per-member-per- 2 month, value-based-payment arrangements, shared savings, quality-based 3 payments, risk-based payments; and 4 (v) transitioning to value-based-payment arrangements. 5 (c) The provisions of this section are subject to compliance with all 6 applicable federal and state laws and regulations, including the Centers 7 for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved Medicaid state plan. To the 8 extent required by federal law, the commissioner shall seek any federal 9 approvals necessary to implement this section, including, but not limit- 10 ed to, any state-directed payments, permissions, state plan amendments 11 or federal waivers by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid 12 Services. The commissioner may also apply for appropriate waivers or 13 state directed payments under federal law and regulation or take other 14 actions to secure federal financial participation to assist in promoting 15 the objectives of this section. 16 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.