Directs the department of health to conduct a study and prepare a report of recreational activity programming in nursing homes examining the accessibility and inclusivity of programming, including accommodations for residents with physical or cognitive impairments, availability of multilingual services, transportation for off-site programming, and scheduling considerations.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10163
IN SENATE
May 1, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT directing the department of health to conduct a study of recre-
ational activity programming in nursing homes
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. a. The department of health shall conduct a study and
2 prepare a report on recreational activity programming in nursing homes.
3 Such study shall examine the accessibility and inclusivity of program-
4 ming, including accommodations for residents with physical or cognitive
5 impairments, availability of multilingual services, transportation for
6 off-site programming, and scheduling considerations.
7 b. For the purposes of the study, the department of health shall
8 collect, at a minimum, the following data on facility characteristics:
9 (i) size;
10 (ii) geographic location;
11 (iii) ownership type;
12 (iv) for-profit or non-profit status;
13 (v) staffing and administrative capacity, including the presence and
14 qualifications of activities directors;
15 (vi) staffing ratios;
16 (vii) budget allocations; and
17 (viii) the structure of activity programming, including whether facil-
18 ities use written activity calendars, the frequency and types of activ-
19 ities offered, such as physical or social programming.
20 c. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the follow-
21 ing meanings:
22 (i) "Nursing home" shall have the same meaning as such term is defined
23 in section twenty-eight hundred one of the public health law.
24 (ii) "Recreational activity" shall include a range of structured phys-
25 ical, and social interventions as determined by the department of
26 health.
27 § 2. Within one year of the effective date of this act, the department
28 of health shall issue a report of the findings of the study to the
29 governor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the
30 assembly.
31 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15560-01-6
