Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 39, September 25, 2024
(a) Proposed changes in physical plant, bed
capacity and the extent and kind of services provided shall be submitted to the
department in writing, pursuant to the provisions of section
710.1(b) of this
Title. Such changes shall not be made until receipt of the appropriate
department approval as set forth in section
710.1(b) of this
Title. The commissioner may, grant administrative approval to such proposed
changes in accordance with the provisions and criteria set forth in section
710.1(c) of this
Title.
(1) A medical facility shall submit,
for all approved projects involving a capital outlay of $100,000 or more, a
schedule of costs at the completion of construction, which shall be certified
to the satisfaction of the commissioner and subject to audit.
(2) The schedule of costs shall be submitted
either at the time of the final construction inspection or within 120 days of
such inspection. The commissioner, upon written request to the Division of
Health Care Financing, New York State Department of Health, and good cause
being shown therefor, may grant an extension of time for such
submission.
(3) Upon receipt of the
schedule of certified costs, the department shall review the submission,
request substantiating material and/or clarification of such submission, when
necessary, and determine that the submitted costs are in conformity with the
previously approved project concept, generally accepted accounting principles,
the approved estimated project cost, and in the event the schedule of certified
costs exceeds the approved estimated project cost, that the excess costs are
necessary, justified and consistent with efficient production of
services.
(b)
(1) Any proposed change in the name of a
business corporation, partnership or governmental subdivision and any proposed
initial use of, or change in, an assumed name of a business corporation,
not-for-profit corporation, partnership, governmental subdivision or sole
proprietor, operating a medical facility or fundraiser under article 28 of the
Public Health Law, or any proposed substitution of the individual or
individuals constituting the operator or owner of a proprietary medical
facility or any proposed change in the rights, privileges or obligations of any
such person shall require the prior written approval of the department or,
where appropriate, of the Public Health Council, except that in the event that
such change or substitution results from an emergency caused by the severe
illness, incompetency or death of such individual or individuals, the
department shall be notified immediately, and application shall be made for
written approval of such change both to the department and, where appropriate,
to the Public Health Council, within 30 days of such emergency.
(2) Prior to any proposed change in the name
of a business corporation, partnership or governmental subdivision or initial
use of, or change in, an assumed name of a business corporation, not-for-profit
corporation, partnership, governmental subdivision or sole proprietor which
does not require the approval of the Public Health Council in accordance with
section 600.11 of this Title, the operator
of the facility shall submit a request for approval of such name change
together with the following information and documents, as appropriate, to the
department's Bureau of Project Management in Albany:
(i) a photocopy of the executed proposed
certificate of amendment of the certificate of incorporation, certificate of
authority to conduct business in the State of New York, or a certificate or
amended certificate of conducting business under an assumed name;
(ii) a letter specifying the current and
proposed names and explaining the nature of and the reasons for the requested
name change; and
(iii) such other
pertinent information and documents necessary for the department's
consideration, as requested.
(3) The approval of the department of a
proposed name or assumed name may be withheld if the proposed name or assumed
name indicates or implies that the corporation, partnership, governmental
subdivision or individual is authorized to engage in activities for which it is
not authorized, provide a level of care it is not authorized to provide, is
misleading, causes confusion with the identity of another facility, or violates
any provision of the law.
(4)
Nothing contained within this section shall limit the authority of the Public
Health Council to approve or disapprove the initial use of a name or assumed
name for a not-for-profit corporation, business corporation, partnership,
governmental subdivision or sole proprietor when such name or assumed name is
before the Public Health Council as part of an application for the
establishment of a facility or fundraiser.
(c) No person or party to whom a current
operating certificate has been issued authorizing the operation of a medical
facility shall transfer his interest in such facility to any other person or
party who intends to continue to operate such facility unless such transferee
has been approved by the State Public Health Council, for establishment and has
also received assurance by the department that the facility complies with the
provisions of this Subchapter.
(d)
The governing authority or operator of a medical facility to whom a current
operating certificate has been issued shall not lease or sublet all or a
portion of the facility, unless such facility, its operation, and the service
performed conform to and comply with the pertinent provisions of this
Subchapter.
(e) To reduce the
operation from the certified bed capacity to a specified lesser bed capacity,
the operator shall obtain prior written approval of the department, show
satisfactory cause for the requested reduction and maintain for the reduced
number of patients or residents the required services and personnel. To
increase the operation from a specified lesser bed capacity to a greater
certified bed capacity, the operator shall employ such additional personnel as
are required after approval thereof by the department. To increase the bed
capacity above that permitted in the operating certificate, the operator shall
apply to the department for a new operating certificate.
(f)
(1) The
operator of a medical facility for which a current operating certificate has
been issued for health-related facility beds may submit an application,
pursuant to the requirements of Part 710 of this Title, for the temporary
conversion of health-related facility beds to skilled nursing home care beds.
The need for such conversion will be established where it has been determined
by the commissioner that the residents within the facility who occupy
health-related facility beds actually require a skilled nursing home level of
care and there are no skilled nursing home care beds available within the
facility to accommodate such residents and the operator is in compliance with
applicable provisions of this Subchapter. A facility permanently certified only
for health-related facility beds shall not apply for temporary conversion or
permanent conversion of beds to the skilled nursing home level of care except
in conjunction with an application for prior establishment approval pursuant to
article 28 of the Public Health Law and regulations promulgated pursuant
thereto. Any approval of such temporary conversion of beds shall be for a
maximum period of two years.
(2) If
the application for temporary conversion is approved, amended operating
certificates shall be issued. The amended operating certificates shall specify
the number of beds converted and the duration of the conversion.
(3) At least three months prior to the
expiration of the temporary conversion period, the operator of the facility
must submit to the department, in writing, an effective, orderly plan, for
approval by the commissioner, for returning the temporarily converted beds to
their permanent residential health-care facility bed classification status. The
plan must be fully implemented by the facility by the expiration of the
temporary conversion period or as soon thereafter as is practicable.
(4) At the expiration of the temporary
conversion period, the facility shall cease all admissions of patients
requiring a skilled nursing home level of care until all beds temporarily
converted are returned to their permanent residential health-care facility bed
classification status.
(5) With
respect to those beds that were temporarily converted because of the need for a
skilled nursing home level of care by specific residents in the facility, no
additional persons may be admitted to the facility to occupy such beds during
the temporary conversion period. This provision will not prohibit the facility
from placing in such beds individuals who, at the time of admission to the
facility, required only a health-related facility level of care and who were
admitted to a health-related facility bed, but whose condition deteriorated so
as to require a skilled nursing home level of care.
(6) Any application for an extension of the
temporary conversion period shall be subject only to the procedures and
requirements of Part 710 of this Chapter.
(7) Immediately after all the temporarily
converted beds have returned to their previous permanent classification status
as health-related facility beds, the department shall issue the operator
appropriately amended operating certificates.
(g) No medical facility shall discontinue
operation or surrender its operating certificate unless 90 days' notice of its
intention to do so is given to the commissioner and his written approval
obtained.
(h) The operator shall
notify, and in event of his failure to do so the department shall notify, as
appropriate, each patient or resident, his next of kin, his sponsor and his
physician, either directly or through the physician's medical society,
immediately upon receipt of notification by the department revoking,
suspending, limiting, annulling or refusing to issue the operating certificate
or approving voluntary surrender of the certificate and shall discharge or
transfer all patients or residents to other appropriate facilities prior to
discontinuing operation.
(i) No
medical facility shall discontinue operation or surrender its operating
certificate whether voluntarily or pursuant to judicial or administrative
proceedings without first obtaining the commissioner's written approval of a
plan for the maintenance, storage and safekeeping of its patients' medical
records. The plan shall provide adequate safeguards for these records, make
them accessible to the patients and their physicians, and may provide for their
ultimate disposition.
(j) An
operating certificate shall be promptly surrendered to the department upon
discontinuance of operation, determination of the Public Health Council not to
approve an emergency change of operator or owner, or expiration, revocation,
suspension, limitation, or annulment of the certificate.
