New York · nursing homes
New York nursing home staff requirements: what you have to hold on every person
A New York nursing home has to hold thirty dated things on file for the people it employs. Twenty-eight of them are federal and are the same in every state. Two are New York's own. One of them is a health rule and one of them is employment law, and the second reaches your kitchen and your office as well as your floor.
What New York adds
Two things, on top of everything every nursing home in the country already holds. Each one names the section of New York law it comes from, so you can read it yourself rather than take our word for it.
| What we track | How often | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| A TB check when they start, a yearly review after, and proof they are immune to measles and rubellaThe yearly part is an assessment, not automatically a test. The measles and rubella part is proof of immunity, which is usually a titer or a dated record of two doses, and it is held once. | A test and an assessment before they start. An assessment every year after that. | 10 NYCRR 415.26 |
| Teaching on harassment at workEmployment law, not a health rule, and it reaches every New York employer with any staff at all. Dietary, housekeeping, maintenance and the office are all in. | Every year | N.Y. Labor Law 201-g |
The one that is not a health rule
The harassment training row is the one that surprises people, because it does not come from the Department of Health and it is not about residents.
It reaches every employer in New York State with any staff at all, once a year, and that includes the dietary aide who has been there twenty years and the part-time bookkeeper who is on site one day a week. There is no headcount threshold and no exemption for small buildings.
The reason it belongs on this page rather than in a human resources binder is simple: it is a dated thing you have to hold on a person, on the same yearly cycle as everything else on this page, and it goes missing in exactly the same way.
What New York does not add
New York does not add nurse aide training hours. Twelve a year, federal, counted from each person's own anniversary, and nothing further.
New York does not re-run the background check on a cycle. It is a hiring check, not a yearly one, which makes New York quieter on that front than Texas or Washington.
What every nursing home in the country holds
These twenty-eight are the same in New York as they are everywhere else, and they are most of the job. Each one names a CMS tag, a piece of the federal code, or both. The guides go through the ones that get cited most.
Licences and certificates
| What we track | How often | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| A current RN license | When it runs out. Most last 2 years. | F839 · 42 CFR 483.70(e) |
| A current LPN license | When it runs out. Most last 2 years. | F839 · 42 CFR 483.70(e) |
| Nurse aide certification, still active on the state list | When it runs out. Most last a year. | F728 · 42 CFR 483.35(d) |
| A current license for therapy, social work and pharmacy staff | When it runs out. Most last 2 years. | F839 · 42 CFR 483.70(e) |
| A current administrator license | When it runs out. Most last a year. | F836 · 42 CFR 483.70(a) |
| Proof the food service director is qualified, where no dietitian works full time | When it runs out. Most last 3 years. | F801 · 42 CFR 483.60(a)(2) |
| Proof the activities lead is qualified | When it runs out. Most last 2 years. | F680 · 42 CFR 483.24(c)(2) |
Checks you run on a person
| What we track | How often | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| A look at the state nurse aide list before the first shift | Before their first shift, then every 2 years | F729 · 42 CFR 483.35(d)(4) |
| A check for any finding of abuse or neglect against them | Every year | F606 · 42 CFR 483.12(a)(3) |
Health and safety
| What we track | How often | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| A first TB check: history, symptoms and a test | Once, in their first two weeks | CDC 2019 via 42 CFR 483.80(a)(2) |
| The hepatitis B shot offered free, and their answer written down | Once, within ten working days of starting | 29 CFR 1910.1030(f) |
| A mask fit test for anyone who wears an N95 | When it runs out. Most last a year. | 29 CFR 1910.134(f) |
| A current CPR card at the healthcare level | When it runs out. Most last 2 years. | F678 · 42 CFR 483.24(a)(3) |
Teaching and in-service
| What we track | How often | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Orientation, before they work on their own | Once, in their first week | F940 · 42 CFR 483.95 |
| Teaching on abuse, neglect and dementia care | Every year | F943 · 42 CFR 483.95(c) |
| Teaching on residents' rights | Every year | F942 · 42 CFR 483.95(b) |
| Teaching on stopping infection spreading | Every year | F945 · 42 CFR 483.95(e) |
| Teaching on the quality program | Every year | F944 · 42 CFR 483.95(d) |
| Teaching on the compliance and ethics program, if your company runs five or more buildings | Every year | F946 · 42 CFR 483.95(f) |
| Teaching on mental health and behavior needs | Every year | F949 · 42 CFR 483.95(i) |
| Teaching on talking with residents, for hands-on staff | Every year | F941 · 42 CFR 483.95(a) |
| Teaching on what to do in an emergency | Every year | 42 CFR 483.73(d)(1) |
| Teaching on blood and needle safety | Every year | 29 CFR 1910.1030(g) |
| Teaching on the chemicals they handle | When they start, and again when a new chemical arrives | 29 CFR 1910.1200(h) |
| Twelve hours of teaching for each nurse aide | 12 hours every year, counted from their own start date | F947 · 42 CFR 483.95(g) |
| A written look at how each nurse aide is doing | Every year | F730 · 42 CFR 483.35(d)(7) |
| Teaching on keeping resident information private | When they start, and again whenever your privacy policy changes | 45 CFR 164.530(b)(1) |
Employment paperwork
| What we track | How often | Where the rule comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Form I-9, filled in and kept | Once, in their first three days of work | 8 CFR 274a.2(b)(1)(ii) |
Three more that nearly every building does anyway
These three are not on the tables above, and the reason is narrow: they rest on federal guidance or on a reporting program rather than on a rule with a section number. Almost every nursing home does all three, several state Medicaid programs have made the first one a condition of payment, and a page that called them law would be a page a surveyor would stop trusting.
- A check against the federal list of people barred from Medicare and Medicaid work. Every month. A name that was clear in January can be on it in February, so this is one to run on employees and contractors alike.
- Teaching on the signs of TB. Every year. What the signs are, who is at risk, and what to do about it. Teaching, not a test.
- A flu shot, or their reason for saying no. Every year. Their answer either way, written down. The count of who said yes is what goes in the yearly report.
What you still have to check yourself
Real in New York, and not on the tables above, because we could not put a section number next to it without guessing. Guessing at a citation is worse than admitting the gap, because the guess is the thing somebody quotes back.
- The Criminal History Record Check through the Department of Health for unlicensed staff who give direct care. It is real and every building runs it. Our source for it is a departmental letter rather than a section of code, so it is not in the table above.
Where the New York rows came from
Read on .
Questions New York buildings ask
Does New York require an annual TB test for nursing home staff?
New York asks for an assessment before employment with a test, and an assessment every year afterwards. The yearly part is an assessment rather than an automatic repeat test, which is a real difference from California, where the test itself repeats. Read 10 NYCRR 415.26 alongside your own infection control plan, because the plan is what decides when an assessment turns into a test.
Do nursing home staff in New York need proof of measles and rubella immunity?
Yes. New York is the state in this set that made it a rule rather than a recommendation for nursing homes. In practice you are holding either a titer result or a dated record of two doses, once per person, and it does not expire.
Is harassment training required every year in New York?
Yes, for every employer in the state, with no minimum headcount. It is annual, unlike California's two-year cycle, and it covers everybody you employ rather than only clinical staff.
Does the New York background check get re-run?
The Criminal History Record Check is run for unlicensed direct care hires and is not repeated on a schedule. What that means for you is that the check is a hiring date rather than a recurring one, so it lives with the person's start paperwork and not on your yearly list.
Does New York add training hours for nurse aides?
No. New York leaves the aide hours at the federal twelve a year, counted from each person's own hire anniversary. States like California, Texas and Florida add their own count on top; New York does not.
Where to go next
- How Credolex works in a nursing home
- F882: infection preventionist, the guide behind the tag New York leans on
- What New Jersey asks for
- What Pennsylvania asks for
- What Ohio asks for
- Every state we have read so far