What's happening
This bill establishes requirements and procedures for nursing home operators in New York who elect to close their facilities, including advance notice, public disclosure, resident protections, and penalties for noncompliance.
Why it matters
Mandates transparency and public involvement. By requiring advance written notice and public disclosure of closure plans, the bill empowers local officials, residents, and community members to be informed and involved in decisions that affect vulnerable nursing home populations and their neighborhoods.
Prioritizes resident well-being during closures. The legislation obligates operators to assess each resident’s needs and help them find and transfer to appropriate alternative settings, aiming to prevent abrupt displacements and protect residents from harm or neglect during transitions.
Enhances regulatory oversight and accountability. The commissioner must approve closure plans before any action occurs, and operators face penalties for noncompliance. This increases accountability and deters operators from prioritizing financial motives over resident welfare.
Protects residents from financial exploitation. The bill explicitly prohibits raising fees or introducing new charges during the closure process, safeguarding residents and their families from unexpected financial burdens at a vulnerable time.
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Who cares
Nursing home residents and families
The bill would require help finding appropriate alternative settings, prohibit closure until all residents have transferred and bar new or increased charges before closure-plan approval.
Nursing home operators
Operators choosing to close would have to give the Department of Health at least 90 days’ written notice, obtain approval before taking closure action and face penalties for noncompliance.
New York State Department of Health
The department would oversee closure-plan approval, work with operators on continued-care and medical-records plans and publish those plans and updates on its website.
Local officials and community boards
Those covered by the bill would receive closure notices and could hold meetings, examine community impacts and recommend approval, modification or rejection when they suspect reasons other than resident health and safety.
Headline styles
Regulate Nursing Home Closures
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 26
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to health
- Print number 4861a
- Amend and recommit to health
- Referred to health
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Regulate Nursing Home Closures
In Senate Committee · Rules · Sponsor Yuh-Line Niou
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4861--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 27, 2019
Introduced by Sens. KAVANAGH, SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to the closure of nursing homes
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2827 to read as follows:
§ 2827. Closure of nursing homes. 1. In the event that an operator of a nursing home elects to close the facility, the following shall apply:
(a) The operator shall notify the department in writing at least ninety days prior to the anticipated date of closure of the nursing home.
(b) The written notice shall include a proposed plan for closure of the nursing home. The plan shall be subject to approval by the commissioner, include timetables for all steps in the closure process and describe the procedures and actions the operator will take to:
(i) notify residents of the closure, including provisions for termination of admission agreements and involuntary discharge;
(ii) assess the needs and preferences of individual residents;
(iii) assist residents in locating and transferring to appropriate alternative settings; and
(iv) maintain compliance with these regulations until all residents have relocated.
(c) Copies of the written notice shall be concurrently delivered to the chief executive officer and the presiding officer of the local legislative body of each county, except a county wholly contained within a city, town or village in which the nursing home is located, the facility's residents' council and, in a city of a million or more population,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02281-03-9
S. 4861--A 2
also to the community board in whose district the nursing home is located.
(d) If such officer, legislative body or board has cause to suspect or believe that an operator of a nursing home is electing to close a facility for reasons other than the health and safety of the residents, such officer, legislative body or board may:
(i) convene closed or public meetings, upon notice to the department and the nursing home operator, that must conclude within forty-five days of the operator's notice;
(ii) examine any information relevant to needs of the community and the impact of the closure on stakeholders; and
(iii) recommended to the commissioner as to whether the application for closure should be approved, modified or rejected.
(e) The closure plan shall be made available to the public.
2. (a) The operator shall take no action to close the nursing home prior to approval by the commissioner of the plan for closure.
(b) The operator shall not close the nursing home until all residents of the nursing home have transferred to appropriate alternative settings.
(c) The operator shall not increase the amount of any fees or charges charged to the residents of the nursing home, their families or their insurance companies, if any, prior to approval of the plan for closure. The operator shall not institute any new fees or charges to the residents of the nursing home, their families or their insurance companies, if any, prior to approval of the plan for closure.
(d) The operator shall not accept new residents, admissions, or transfers for the nursing home, after the operator has notified the department that the operator intendeds to close the nursing home, unless (i) each such new resident, admission or transfer is notified prior to acceptance of the intended date of closure, or (ii) the operator's election to close the nursing home has been abandoned.
3. As part of the approval of the closure plan, the commissioner and operator shall:
(a) create a plan for the maintenance, storage and safekeeping, and ultimate disposition of its patient medical records and provide for the transfer or access to such records to the patients, their treating health care providers, or lawful representatives;
(b) create a plan to insure that arrangements for continued care which meet each resident's social, emotional and health needs, to be effectuated sixty days prior to closure;
(c) implement the approved plans and prompt surrender of the operating certificate upon closure; and
(d) make a full copy of such plans available to the public on the department's website and shall update the posting should the plans change.
4. Failure of a nursing home operator to comply with any provision of this section or the terms of any agreement with or conditions imposed by the commissioner under this section shall result in the imposition of penalties under this chapter.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the first of April after it shall become a law, and shall apply to all closures of nursing homes occurring on or after such effective date and to all closures of nursing homes pending such effective date. Effective immediately, the commissioner of health shall make regulations and take other actions reasonably necessary to implement this act on that date.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the closure of nursing homes
PURPOSE OR GENERA", IDEA OF BILL:
To strengthen oversight over nursing homes by creating a transparent process when nursing homes closures are proposed.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1 of the bill adds a new section to the public health law to require a nursing home operator to notify the commissioner of the New York State Department of Health (DOH) ninety days prior to an antic- ipated closure. The notification shall include a proposed plan for closure, subject to the approval of the commissioner, and describe procedures the operator will take to notify and assess the needs of nursing home residents affected by the closure.
Copies of the written notice shall be concurrently delivered to the local executive body, legislative body, the facility's residents' coun- cil, and community board, if applicable, where the nursing home is located, who shall have the opportunity to respond and make recommenda- tions. Establishes that the operator shall take no action to close the nursing home prior to approval by the commissioner of the plan for closure.
Requires the commissioner to make full copies of the final closure plans available to the public on the department's website. Authorizes the commissioner to impose fines should the operator fail to comply with any provisions of this section.
Section 2 of the bill establishes the effective date.
Justification
The "Rivington Act" would strengthen oversight by creating a transparent process when nursing homes closures are proposed and requiring DOH to ensure the local community and nursing home tenants are notified before approving any closure.
The current closure process does not require engagement of the surround- ing community, or an examination of how a facility's closure will impact the broader community before a decision for closure is made. Information on a potential closure cannot even be disclosed to the public prior to a closure being approved by DOH. Communities have no ability to comment on the impact of the proposed closure.
Notification of the sudden closure of Rivington House, a nursing home on Manhattan's Lower East Side, came in the form of news reports and rumors, instead of formal communications from the operator or DOH. As a result, the Rivington House closure proceeded without oversight, leading to extensive investigations and a loss of needed care in its community.
Prior legislative history
2018: 57108 (Kavanagh)/A4395A (Niou) - Referred to Health/Referred to Ways and Means
2017: S2036A (Squadron)/A4395A (Niou) - Stricken/Reported and referred to Ways and Means
2016: 58208 (Squadron) - Referred to Rules
Fiscal implications
Minimal fiscal impact.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the first of April after it shall become a law, and shall apply to all closures of nursing homes occurring on or after such effective date and to all closures of nursing homes pending such effective date; provided that, effective immediately, the commis- sioner of health shall make regulations and take other actions reason- ably necessary to implement this act on that date.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.