Department of Health

Long-Term Home Health Care Program

In New York State’s long-term home health care program, infirm and disabled Medicaid recipients receive health and related social support services in their own homes. According to State law and regulations, the cost of the care provided to program participants generally must be less than the cost of comparable nursing home care, and in most cases, is not to exceed 75 percent of the average cost of nursing home care in the recipient’s local social services district. We examined the actions taken by the Department of Health and the local districts (57 counties and New York City) to keep program costs within statutory limits. We found that costs are usually kept within these limits, but identified some instances in which costs exceeded their limits. During our two-year audit period, these excess costs totaled about $4.4 million. We identified certain improvements that could be made in local district practices, and recommended that the Department of Health work with the local districts to make these improvements.

For a complete copy of Report 2002-S-43 click here.
For a copy of the associated follow-up report click here.