Section 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 mental retardation and  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.