BILL NUMBER: S113

SPONSOR: ORTT
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the "Unpredictable
Nursing Home Inspection Act"

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To require that the department of health conducts nursing home
inspections on nights, weekends, and holidays.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 allows the bill to be referred to as the "Unpredictable Nurs-
ing Home Inspection Act."

Section 2 defines "business hours" and "non-business hours." It also
mandates that the department conducts no more than 60% of nursing home
inspections during business hours.
              

It requires the department to generate an annual report on the times of
nursing home inspections, and authorizes penalties on department employ-
ees who do not follow this law. Lastly, this section bans department
employees from giving any form of notice of impending inspection to
nursing homes.

Section 3 requires that a copy of this bill be sent to the attorney
general upon its becoming law.

Section 4 sets the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Nursing home inspections are supposed to hold facilities to our state's
standards. However, it's clear that inspections are currently falling
short on that goal. As widely reported, and specifically in a Buffalo
News series regarding nursing home conditions, our inspections are fail-
ing to hold nursing homes to account.

A complaint I frequently receive from nursing home patients and families
is that department of health inspections are far too predictable.
Inspections are routinely conducted during business hours only, and many
families expressed a belief that nursing home managers were aware of
when inspections would happen.

Any reasonable facility manager would ensure that the facility is meet-
ing standards if that manager knew an inspection was coming.  However,
the purpose of our state's standards is not to show facility managers
how a facility should look when an inspector is around. The purpose is
to keep facilities at or above the standard at all times.

Earlier this year, I wrote to the department of health to encourage the
department to implement unpredictable inspections internally. The
department claimed that it did conduct inspections at varying times, but
when I requested proof of inspection dates and times, the department
never responded to me.

If the department will not implement this policy internally, the legis-
lature just do so through statute. By mandating inspections on nights,
weekends, and holidays and banning any advance notice of inspections,
nursing homes will have no idea when an inspection is coming, and will
have no choice but to keep the facility up to standard at all times.

Although this may add strain on the department, it is a worthwhile meas-
ure. The law's importance doesn't stop at 5pm, and enforcing the law
around the clock will ensure our seniors are getting the care they
deserve.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill.

 
FISCAL IMPACT:

Minimal

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.