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ALBANY---Thirteen nursing homes across New York State have been approved to rightsize and reconfigure their operations to expand into the growing areas of home health care, adult day care and assisted living. In order to transition into expanding these services, the rightsizing nursing home projects approved will decertify a total of 259 unused beds and allow for the conversion of 572 existing beds into other long-term care services.
"These new nursing home projects including the rightsizing operations will help advance needed long-term care reforms in New York State. Health care and long-term care options are constantly changing and we must continue to identify sensible, effective and cost-saving initiatives if we are to keep pace with these changes." Governor George Pataki said.
In 2005, the Governor signed into law a measure to help further expand the long-term care opportunities for New Yorkers by allowing qualified nursing homes statewide to 'rightsize' their operations by decertifying unused beds and/or reconfiguring services to better meet the needs of the communities they serve. Nursing homes participating in this demonstration project are permitted to temporarily decertify beds for up to five years or permanently convert a portion of existing beds.
Nursing home occupancy in New York State has been declining steadily for a number of years. In 2004, occupancy of nursing home beds statewide was approximately 92%, down from nearly 98% in 1997. In addition, the average length of stay in nursing homes throughout New York has declined by over 40% since 2002. In essence, advances in medicine, rehabilitative and preventive health care have led to a steady decrease in the length of resident admissions and an overall decline in nursing home occupancy rates statewide.
The six nursing homes that temporarily decertified a collective total of 259 beds include: Albany County Nursing Home (Albany - 120); Our Lady of Hope Residence (Albany- 34); Bridgewater Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing (Broome - 25); Crest Manor Living and Rehabilitation Center (Monroe - 4); Terrance Cardinal Cook Health Center (New York - 56); and Mercy Healthcare Center (Franklin - 20).
The following eight nursing homes have been approved to decertify a collective total of 572 nursing home beds and convert those slots into other services:
| NURSING HOME |
COUNTY |
BEDS |
TYPE OF SERVICE |
| Beth Abraham Health Services |
Bronx |
72 |
Home Health CareCobble Hill Health Center, Inc. |
| Kings |
156 |
Adult Day Care Menorah Nursing Home |
|
| Kings |
21 |
Home HealthCareMetropolitan Jewish Geriatric |
|
| Kings |
156 |
Home Health CareCenterRutland Nursing Home Co., Inc. |
|
| Kings |
10 |
Adult Day CareTerrance Cardinal Cooke |
|
| New York |
100 |
Adult Day Care Health CenterCharles T. Sitrin Health |
|
| Oneida |
17 |
Assisted Living Center, Inc.Northern Metropolitan |
|
| Rockland |
40 |
Adult Day Care Residential Health Care Facility, Inc. |
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For more on this initiative and other nursing home information, please visit the State Health Department's web site at www.nyhealth.gov 5-25-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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