Bill Text: NY S08617 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relates to annual reporting requirements of the state long-term care ombudsman; requires additional information to be contained in the state ombudsman's annual reports to the governor, state legislature, etc.; requires an additional annual report to be submitted to the attorney general on instances of abuse, neglect and exploitation, for review and possible enforcement action.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-12-23 - SIGNED CHAP.776 [S08617 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S08617-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8617

                    IN SENATE

                                     March 22, 2022
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  MAY  --  read  twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Aging

        AN ACT to amend the elder law, in relation to annual reporting  require-
          ments of the state long-term care ombudsman

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Subdivision 14 of section 218 of the elder law, as  amended
     2  by  chapter  259  of  the laws of 2018, is amended and a new subdivision
     3  14-a is added to read as follows:
     4    14. Annual report. On or before March thirty-first, two thousand five,
     5  and annually thereafter, the state ombudsman shall submit to the  gover-
     6  nor, commissioner of the federal administration on aging, speaker of the
     7  assembly,  temporary  president  of  the  senate,  director of the state
     8  office for the aging, commissioner of the department of health, and  the
     9  commissioner  of  children  and  family  services a report and make such
    10  report available to the public:
    11    (a) describing the activities carried out by the office of  the  state
    12  long-term care ombudsman during the prior calendar year;
    13    (b)  containing  and  analyzing data relating to complaints and condi-
    14  tions in long-term care facilities and to residents for the  purpose  of
    15  identifying and resolving significant problems, including an examination
    16  of  any  recurring  issues in any long-term care facilities to determine
    17  any systemic issues in such facilities;
    18    (c) evaluating the problems experienced by, and the complaints made by
    19  or on behalf of, residents;
    20    (d) containing policy recommendations and recommendations  for  appro-
    21  priate state legislation, rules and regulations and other action for the
    22  governor  and state legislature based on data collected pursuant to this
    23  section, concerns raised by residents and  families  of  residents,  and
    24  observations  made  when  visiting long-term care facilities, to improve
    25  the quality of the care  and  life  of  the  residents,  protecting  the
    26  health,  safety  and  welfare  and rights of the residents and resolving
    27  resident complaints and identified problems or barriers;

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD14320-01-2
        S. 8617                             2

     1    (e) containing an analysis  of  the  success  of  the  long-term  care
     2  ombudsman program, including success in providing services to residents;
     3    (f)  describing  barriers  that  prevent  the optimal operation of the
     4  ombudsman program;
     5    (g) describing any organizational conflicts of interest in the ombuds-
     6  man program that have been identified and the steps taken to  remove  or
     7  remedy such conflicts; [and]
     8    (h) containing all complaints received by the state ombudsman relating
     9  to long-term care facilities, listed by facility name and by region;
    10    (i)  containing  the number of visits to each long-term care facility,
    11  listed by facility name and by  region,  and  names  of  long-term  care
    12  facilities that did not receive any visits in the prior year; and
    13    (j) any other matters as the state ombudsman, in consultation with the
    14  director  of  the state office for the aging, determines to be appropri-
    15  ate.
    16    14-a. Report to attorney general. Annually,  upon  submission  of  the
    17  annual  report  pursuant  to  subdivision  fourteen of this section, the
    18  state ombudsman shall submit an additional report to the attorney gener-
    19  al that shall contain  general  information  relating  to  instances  of
    20  abuse,  neglect,  and  exploitation  in  long-term  care facilities in a
    21  manner that does not violate individual  resident  confidentiality,  for
    22  review and possible enforcement action.
    23    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.