Albany County Executive Dan McCoy is committed to working towards new and innovative programs for Albany County's seniors and to increase access to a comprehensive and coordinated system of services.  Under the Leadership of Dan McCoy, in June of 2014 Albany County sponsored the first of its kind Annual Aging Summit that brought aging services providers and policymakers together to plan for the coming "aging tsunami".  The summit was a tremendous success. Dan McCoy believes that caring for our seniors and doing all that we can for them is the order of business in Albany County.

As you well know, for years the Albany County Nursing Home was a significant financial strain on County finances, operating at an annual deficit of nearly twelve million dollars.  Under the leadership of Dan McCoy the county officials came to an agreement on changing the management structure and as a result of efficiencies put into place and the cooperation of unionized employees, the finances of the nursing home have truly turned a corner.  

There has been a reduction of the financial subsidy by nearly half and even further savings are anticipated within the next two years as Albany County moves forward with renovations to the facility that were largely ignored for over a decade.

These renovations will transform living conditions for nursing home residents, will improve their quality of life and will increase occupancy rates.

Under Dan McCoy’s leadership, Management of the nursing home is working to advance an exciting proposal as part of the Capital Region’s request for State DSRIP funding. 

DSRIP, the Delivery System Reform Incentive Program, is the main mechanism by which New York State will implement a redesign of Medicaid to better increase access for all New Yorker's to high quality health care and reduce the overall cost by reducing inpatient hospital admissions.

New York State has allocated eight billion dollars to this five year program and Albany County is participating in it locally along with major regional health care providers, such as Albany Medical Center Hospital. 

It is hopeful that this new initiative will allow Albany County to expand on-site services to include a Primary Care Health Center.  It is expected that the programs at the proposed new Center will include services such as dialysis, radiology, mental health, diabetes, podiatry, hypertension and dentistry. 

The Center will permit most resident services to be provided on-site avoiding the inconvenience and cost of transportation to offsite facilities.  And, as a Primary Care Center, all of these services can be made available to the broader Albany County community including to the veterans who hopefully will soon be housed at the site of the former Ann Lee Home.

This Center has the potential to provide not only more effective quality of care to our nursing home residents but to residents countywide including County employees and the utilization of this space has the further potential of actually turning our nursing home facility into a revenue generator for Albany County. 

Under the leadership of Dan McCoy, the savings  achieved to date at the nursing home coupled with the very real possibility of this transformational project, signals clearly that in Albany County good management and creative thinking are the order of business.