STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5460--A
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 14, 2015
___________
Introduced by Sen. HANNON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- recommitted to
the Committee on Health in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to enacting the
"public nursing home protection act of 2016"; and providing for the
repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new article
2 28-F to read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 28-F
4 PUBLIC NURSING HOME PROTECTION
5 ACT OF 2016
6 Section 2899-c. Short title.
7 2899-d Legislative findings and intent.
8 2899-e. Definitions.
9 2899-f. Comprehensive report on public nursing homes.
10 2899-g. Restriction on divestiture and elimination of services.
11 § 2899-c. Short title. This article shall be known and may be cited
12 as the "public nursing home protection act of 2016".
13 § 2899-d. Legislative findings and intent. The legislature hereby
14 finds, determines and declares that:
15 1. public nursing homes are a critical component to the health care
16 infrastructure of the state and often represent the caregiver of last
17 resort for many New Yorkers. With the state's population continuing to
18 age, the demand for public nursing homes is likely to increase over the
19 coming years;
20 2. as funding from the federal, state and local governments has
21 decreased over the past several years, many municipalities of the state
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11152-02-6
S. 5460--A 2
1 have sold, closed, privatized, transferred ownership or otherwise limit-
2 ed or eliminated publicly available nursing home services; and
3 3. the continued loss of such public nursing homes may lead to compro-
4 mised or inadequate care for many people in need. Therefore, the legis-
5 lature finds that it shall be the goal of the state to ensure that
6 public nursing homes remain available for the future care of people in
7 need.
8 § 2899-e. Definitions. As used in this article:
9 1. "Municipality" shall mean any county, except a county wholly
10 contained within a city having a population of one million or more
11 persons.
12 2. "Public nursing home" shall mean any nursing home or residential
13 health care facility established under article twenty-eight of this
14 chapter that is operated or owned by a municipality.
15 § 2899-f. Comprehensive report on public nursing homes. 1. The commis-
16 sioner, in conjunction with the director of the division of the budget,
17 shall study and issue a comprehensive report on public nursing homes in
18 the state. Such study and report carried out pursuant to this section
19 shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
20 (a) The current and expected future financial condition of public
21 nursing homes including, but not limited to:
22 (1) the current and expected future support from medicaid, and the
23 state and local governments,
24 (2) the current and expected future impact of the state's new medicaid
25 reimbursement methodology for nursing homes,
26 (3) financial support trends from local governments over the previous
27 twenty years,
28 (4) additional aid from state or local governments, and
29 (5) the availability of any grants to public nursing homes;
30 (b) The current usage of public nursing homes, including, but not
31 limited to:
32 (1) the demographic profile of public nursing home residents;
33 (2) the average bed count per facility,
34 (3) the most demanded services per facility, and
35 (4) specialty services that are not provided by non-public nursing
36 homes;
37 (c) The expected future need for public nursing homes including, but
38 not limited to:
39 (1) the expected future demand for various services, and
40 (2) projections of facility populations aged sixty-five or older,
41 seventy-five or older, and eighty-five or older for the next three
42 decades; and
43 (d) The effects that the closure, sale, transfer, divestment, defund-
44 ing, downsizing or reassignment of ownership of a public nursing home
45 from a municipality to any other person or entity would have on the
46 residents of such facility including, but not limited to, (1) the impact
47 on the physical and mental health of the residents, (2) the availability
48 of services for hard-to-place residents, and (3) the impact on family
49 members of residents.
50 2. The commissioner may request and shall receive from any agency in
51 the state, and from any subdivision, department, board, bureau, commis-
52 sion, office, agency, or other instrumentality of the state or of any
53 political subdivision thereof such information, assistance and data
54 deemed necessary or desirable to effectuate the purposes set forth in
55 this section. Such information received by the commissioner shall be
56 subject to the same requirements and confidentiality and limitations on
S. 5460--A 3
1 use, if any, as are applicable to the department's use of such informa-
2 tion.
3 3. The commissioner shall make a report of his or her findings to the
4 governor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the
5 assembly, the minority leader of the senate and the minority leader of
6 the assembly within one year of the effective date of this article.
7 § 2899-g. Restriction on divestiture and elimination of services.
8 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no municipality shall close,
9 sell, transfer, divest, defund, downsize or reassign ownership of a
10 public nursing home until one year after the commissioner shall have
11 reported his or her findings pursuant to subdivision three of section
12 twenty-eight hundred ninety-nine-f of this article.
13 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be
14 deemed repealed 2 years after it shall take effect.