2023 New York Laws › PBH - Public Health › Article 20 - Reporting of Alzheimer's Disease › 2004-A - Coordinating Council for Services Related to Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementia.

§  2004-a.  Coordinating  council  for services related to Alzheimer's
disease and other dementia. 1. There is hereby created in the department
of health a coordinating council for  services  related  to  Alzheimer's
disease  and  other  dementia,  to  facilitate  interagency planning and
policy, review specific agency initiatives for their impact on  services
related  to  the  care  of persons with dementia and their families, and
provide a continuing forum for concerns and discussion  related  to  the
formulation  of  a  comprehensive  state  policy relating to Alzheimer's
disease and services for persons with incurable dementia.
2. The council shall be comprised of twenty-one  members  as  follows:
the  commissioner  of  health,  the director of the state office for the
aging,  the  commissioner  of  children   and   family   services,   the
commissioner  of  education,  the  commissioner of mental health and the
commissioner of the office for people  with  developmental  disabilities
who  shall serve ex officio and who may designate representatives to act
on their behalf.  The governor shall appoint seven  other  members  with
expertise  in  Alzheimer's disease, other dementia or elder care issues,
at least two of whom shall represent not-for-profit  corporations  whose
primary  purpose  is to provide access to experts in the care of persons
with Alzheimer's disease and  related  dementia,  that  are  part  of  a
statewide    network    of   not-for-profit   corporations   established
specifically to respond at the local and regional level to the needs  of
this population and that provide family intervention services related to
Alzheimer's  disease  in  order  to  postpone  or  prevent  nursing home
placements of individuals with Alzheimer's disease  or  other  dementia.
Eight  members  shall be appointed by the governor on the recommendation
of the legislative leaders as follows: the temporary  president  of  the
senate  and  the  speaker  of  the  assembly  shall each recommend three
members to the council. One of the  three  members  recommended  by  the
temporary  president  and  one  of  the three members recommended by the
speaker shall be a clinical or research expert in the field of  dementia
and  one of the three members appointed by each shall be a family member
or caregiver of a person suffering from  Alzheimer's  disease  or  other
dementia.  One  member  shall  be appointed on the recommendation of the
minority leader of the senate and one member shall be appointed  on  the
recommendation  of the minority leader of the assembly. The commissioner
of health and the director of the office for the aging shall  serve,  ex
officio, as co-chairs of the council. Administrative duties shall be the
responsibility  of  the  department.  The  members  of the council shall
receive no compensation for their services.
3. Within one year after the  effective  date  of  this  section,  the
council  shall  establish community forums to gain input from consumers,
providers, key researchers in the field and other interested parties  to
provide  input and direction on developing a New York state plan for the
identification and treatment of Alzheimer's disease in the community.  A
community forum shall be established in each of the following regions of
the  state:  Long Island, New York city, Northern Metropolitan New York,
Northeastern New York, Utica area, Central New York, Rochester area  and
Western  New  York.  Such state plan shall include but not be limited to
identifying best practices in  working  with  persons  with  Alzheimer's
disease,  best  interventions  for  caregivers  to help reduce caregiver
burnout, best approaches to training doctors, nurses and  other  medical
and   non-medical   professionals   and  paraprofessionals  to  identify
Alzheimer's disease, a community assessment of  strengths  and  gaps  in
community  support  services, ways in which to coordinate services among
various systems, different financing approaches  to  pay  for  community
support services and any other recommendations.
4.  (a)  The  council  shall  meet quarterly or more frequently if its
business shall require. The  community  forums  in  the  first  year  of
implementation  count as a formal meeting of the council. The members of
the council shall receive no compensation but shall  be  reimbursed  for
travel  and  other  expenses  actually  and  necessarily incurred in the
performance of their duties. The council shall provide  reports  to  the
governor  and  the legislature on or before June thirtieth, two thousand
nine and by June thirtieth of every other year thereafter. Such  reports
shall  include recommendations for state policy relating to dementia and
a review of services initiated and coordinated among public and  private
agencies to meet the needs of persons with Alzheimer's disease and other
dementia and their families.
(b)  The  council shall additionally review and report upon the use of
clinically  recognized,  scientifically  based,   cognitive   impairment
screening  tools  used  to identify signs of and individuals at-risk for
cognitive impairment, including Alzheimer's disease or other  dementias,
in  all  settings  of the health continuum. Such tools shall include but
not be  limited  to  tools  approved  and/or  recognized  by  the  Joint
Commission  on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS), and others as determined by the  council  which
are  used  by  health  care providers, across all settings of the health
continuum. The council shall also review and report on best practices of
providers concerning early identification  of  at-risk  individuals  and
referral  practices,  the  range of interventions and services available
for the cognitively impaired, and shall report  its  assessment  of  the
need  and  presence  of  such  tools and practices in each sector of the
health continuum. The council shall further include in its  reports  any
findings  concerning  potential  gaps of identification and intervention
for the cognitively  impaired,  the  need  for  public  education  about
cognitive  impairment,  and  recommendations  to  address that education
need.
5.  The  department  shall  serve  as  the  focal  point  to   develop
comprehensive  coordinated  responses of the various state agencies with
regard to Alzheimer's disease and related  dementia  and  thus  help  to
assure  timely  and  appropriate  responses  to issues and problems. The
department shall collaborate with the state  office  for  the  aging  on
issues  related  to  nonmedical  support  services  for individuals with
Alzheimer's  disease  and  other  dementia  and  their  caregivers.  The
department  shall  collaborate  with other appropriate state agencies to
establish a simplified coordinated assessment  procedure  for  obtaining
needed services for persons with Alzheimer's disease and other dementia.
6.  The  department,  in  consultation with the council, shall utilize
data and information compiled and maintained pursuant to this article to
coordinate state funded research efforts to ensure  the  most  efficient
use of funds available for this purpose.