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How to Verify a Facility's License

The state tools that show license status and inspection history, and why a clean review page means nothing about the regulatory record.

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Home›State Rules›How to Verify a Facility's License

How to check a community's record yourself

Short answer

New York publishes Adult Care Facility and nursing home license status and inspection history free, through NYS Health Profiles.

To reach NYSDOH directly for a Staten Island / NYC facility, the Metropolitan Area Regional Office -- New York City (MARO-NYC), 90 Church Street, New York, NY 10007, handles Adult Care Facilities complaints at (212) 417-5990 and nursing home complaints at (212) 417-4999 (statewide nursing-home hotline: 1-888-201-4563).

Source: NYSDOH regional offices

What to actually look at once you are in there

Pulling the record is easy. Reading it usefully is the part nobody explains.

  • Match the license type to your parent's needs, not just to today. Ask directly about admission and retention criteria.
  • Check the licensee name against the operator. Ownership turns over regularly, and buildings are often marketed under a brand that differs from the license holder.
  • Read deficiency narratives, do not count citations. A missing signature and an injured resident can appear in the same document, formatted identically.
  • Look for repetition across surveys. One citation is an incident. The same finding across consecutive surveys is a pattern.

Questions families ask

In-home care vs. assisted living -- where's the actual cost crossover point?

At New York's 2025 CareScout median of $35/hour for non-medical caregiver care, roughly 41 hours a week of in-home care costs about the same as the state's $7,110/month assisted living median. Past that point, a licensed community is often the less expensive option on paper.

Nursing home vs. assisted living -- what actually pushes a resident from one to the other?

A resident whose needs exceed what an Assisted Living Residence (or Enhanced ALR, for aging-in-place needs) is licensed to provide -- generally ongoing skilled nursing care -- typically needs to transition to a nursing home, licensed under the entirely separate rule chapter 10 NYCRR Part 415.

Hospice vs. palliative care -- families on Staten Island often confuse these. What's the real difference?

Hospice is comfort-focused care for a life-limiting illness, generally when a physician expects six months or less if the disease runs its normal course, and generally requires stepping back from curative treatment. Palliative care focuses on symptom relief and quality of life, and can run alongside curative treatment at any stage of an illness.

CCRC vs. standalone assisted living -- which fits a Staten Island family better?

A Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) bundles independent living, assisted living, memory care and often nursing care on one campus, usually with a substantial entry fee, keeping a couple together across changing care needs. A standalone assisted living community has no entry fee and a simpler admissions process, but no guaranteed spot at a higher care level later.

What does NYSDOH actually license when a Staten Island community calls itself "assisted living"?

New York State Department of Health licenses a base Adult Care Facility (Adult Home, Enriched Housing Program, or Residence for Adults), then permits an optional Assisted Living Residence (ALR) certification under 10 NYCRR Part 1001 on top of that. A community can only market itself as assisted living if it actually holds the ALR certification, not just the base ACF license.

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