Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program IV

The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) has released an additional Request for Applications (RFAs) under the Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program IV. This round of funding will focus on supporting capital projects, debt retirement and restructuring, working capital and other non-capital projects directly related to furthering healthcare transformation goals of improving quality of care, access to care, and ensuring financial sustainability of healthcare providers. The Department will award up to $250 million in funding to support multiple eligible projects. Funding will be made available in the form of grants to cover eligible expenses proposed in the approved applications. RFAs for proposed projects can be submitted from now until the submission deadline of March 26, 2024.

Applicants should submit proposals for projects that align with, and advance, the Department’s goals:

• Transforming, redesigning, and strengthening healthcare services in alignment with statewide/regional needs in the ongoing pandemic response;
• Activities intended to build innovative patient-centered models of care;
• Increasing access to care by integrating, preserving, and/or expanding essential healthcare services;
• Advancing health equity;
• Improving quality of care; and
• Ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of healthcare providers.

Who’s eligible to apply?

Applicants must be one of the following types of eligible organizations, legally existing, and capable of signing a binding Master Grant Contract with the Department of Health: 

Eligible projects & expenses

To apply for grant funding, eligible applicants must submit a detailed project proposal with robust descriptions of the eligible project and justification for all expenditures included in the Project Budget, as well as narratives explaining how expenditures relate to the eligible project.  

Applicants may request funding for more than one Eligible Project. However, separate applications must be submitted for non-capital projects or debt retirement and restructuring purposes, even if they are part of the same project. If multiple RFAs are submitted, each application must be assigned a priority order.

Eligible expenditures

Expenditures eligible for funding “capital projects” may include, but are not limited to:

• Planning or design of the acquisition, construction, demolition, replacement, major repair or renovation of a fixed asset or assets, including the preparation and review of plans and specifications including engineering and other services;
• Construction costs;
• Renovation costs;
• Asset acquisitions;
• Equipment costs; and
• Consultants’ fees and other expenditures associated with preparing Certificate of Need (CON) applications that are required for the proposed establishment action, construction activity, or service expansion (as long as the costs incurred are connected with the original construction and not an ownership transfer).

Expenditures eligible for funding “debt retirement and restructuring, and other non-capital projects” may include, but are not limited to:

• Debt restructuring including costs to reduce, retire or refinance long-term liabilities such as mortgages, bank loans, capital leases and other liabilities, payments of debt service for such long-term liabilities and costs for restructuring, including professional fees, penalties, and interest; and
• Start-up operating expenses directly connected to the Eligible Project for which funding is sought under this RFA.

Excluded expenditures

• Grants shall not be made to support day-to-day operating costs, such as routine supplies, utilities, operating lease payments, equipment with a useful life of less < 3 years, ongoing maintenance costs, etc.

Evaluation criteria

In determining awards for Eligible Projects, the NYSDOH shall consider criteria including, but not limited to:

1. Maintaining or improving the long-term financial sustainability of the applicant.
2. Improving the quality of care, patient outcomes and patient experience.
3. Integration, preservation, or expansion of essential healthcare services.
4. Addressing identified community need(s) and the extent to which community engagement has helped shape the proposed project.
5. Advancing health equity.
6. Medicaid or Medicare enrollees and uninsured individuals.
7. The extent to which the applicant has limited access to alternative financing.
8. The extent to which the proposed activities and technology further advance access and the capability for electronic health records, cybersecurity, health management tools or telehealth.

 Contact Mazars for questions about this funding opportunity and ways we can assist with grant applications.

Authors

Steven Herbst, Principal, Healthcare Consulting 

Devon Judge, Director, Healthcare Consulting 

The information provided here is for general guidance only, and does not constitute the provision of tax advice, accounting services, investment advice, legal advice, or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional tax, accounting, legal or other competent advisers.