New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 10 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH › Chapter V - Medical Facilities › Subchapter A - Medical Facilities-minimum Standards › Article 3 - Residential Care Facilities › Part 415 - Nursing Homes-minimum Standards › General › Section 415.1 - Basis and scope

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a) Statement of
						purpose.
(1) New York's residential health
						care facilities are responsible for the health and well-being of more than
						100,000 residents ranging from infants with multiple impairments to young
						adults suffering from the sequelae of traumatic brain injury to the frail
						elderly with chronic disabilities. For the vast majority of residents, the
						residential health care facility is their last home. A license to operate a
						nursing home carries with it a special obligation to the residents who depend
						upon the facility to meet every basic human need.
(2) Each resident comes to the nursing home
						with unique life experiences, values, attitudes and desires, and a singular
						combination of clinical and psychological needs. In order to assure the highest
						practicable quality of life, the individuality of the nursing home resident
						must be recognized, and the exercise of self-determination protected and
						promoted, by the operator and staff of the facility. The physical environment,
						care policies and staff behavior must at once acknowledge the dependence of the
						residents while fostering their highest possible level of
						independence.
(3) In writing a code
						of minimum operating standards for nursing homes, it is also critical that the
						regulator recognize the infinite diversity of the nursing home population. A
						code intended to assure the highest possible quality of care and most
						meaningful quality of life for all residents must not only accept, but in fact
						invite variety in nursing home environments, policies and practices, and
						encourage creativity among nursing home managers and staff.
(4) In order to meet obligations to nursing
						home residents, this set of requirements, to the extent possible, expresses
						expectations for facility operation in terms of performance and outcomes rather
						than by dictating structure and process. It is the intent of these requirements
						to grant a high degree of latitude and flexibility to administrators and staff
						while insisting upon conformance to fundamental principles of individual rights
						and to accepted professional standards. In those areas where a detailed process
						or procedure is mandated, it is based upon a firm belief that experience has
						proven the specific practice to be necessary in all cases to assure the high
						quality of care we expect nursing homes to provide.
(5) In addition to the emphasis on
						individuality and self-determination, the code reflects certain precepts: that
						nursing homes should be viewed as homes as much as medical institutions, with
						the resident's psychosocial needs deserving a prominence at least equal to
						medical condition; that clinical interventions for the nursing home resident
						must be part of a comprehensive approach planned and provided by an
						interdisciplinary care team, with the participation of the resident, rather
						than through a physician-directed acute care orientation; and that quality
						assurance is a work ethic rather than an oversight method or a
						department.