Assembly Oversight, Analysis, and Investigations Chair Andrew Hevesi co-hosted a hearing alongside Assembly Health Chair Richard Gottfried and Assembly Insurance Chair Kevin Cahill in order to get to the bottom of the crisis of Early Intervention provider reimbursement. Changes imposed by the State Department of Health caused payments to lag for the past six months. The hearing also sought to unearth solutions for clearing up the back log and repairing the glitches.

"The fiscal agent system authorized in the 2012 State budget, and administered by the Department of Health through ‘third-party contracts’ has proven overly complex and burdensome to Early Intervention service providers in New York State," said Assemblymember Hevesi. "The hearing brought impediments in the payment structure to light that are causing delays in reimbursements to EI providers for services. This will be rectified so that they can continue to carry out their vital work for our children."

The Department of Health’s Bureau of Early Intervention, the Department of Financial Services, service providers, parents, and insurance plan representatives all testified at this hearing regarding changes to the state's billing system for EI.