Rochester Senior AdvisorWho licenses and inspects nursing homes in the Rochester area?
The New York State Department of Health licenses every nursing home under Public Health Law Article 28 and the minimum standards in 10 NYCRR Part 415, and its surveyors inspect them on behalf of CMS for Medicare and Medicaid certification.
New York calls a nursing home a residential health care facility, which is why the state roster lists them as RHCFs. The state roster lists 49 nursing homes in Monroe, Ontario, Wayne, Livingston and Orleans counties with 6,800 beds; CMS rates 45 of them, 22 with four or five stars overall (Care Compare data as of October 1, 2026).
What is New York's minimum staffing law for nursing homes?
Public Health Law 2895-b and 10 NYCRR 415.13 require every nursing home to provide at least 3.5 hours of nursing care per resident per day, at least 2.2 of them from certified nurse aides and at least 1.1 from licensed nurses.
The department checks compliance each quarter using CMS's payroll-based staffing data and can fine a home up to $2,000 for each day it falls short, with reductions for documented mitigating factors such as a regional labor shortage. Our nursing home pages show each home's reported hours from CMS so families can compare them with the 3.5-hour floor.
How should families read CMS star ratings for New York nursing homes?
CMS's overall star rating combines three parts, health inspections, staffing and quality measures, and the health inspection part is graded on a curve within each state, so a New York home is compared with other New York homes.
Read the parts separately. A four-star overall rating can hide a two-star staffing score. The inspection date matters too: CMS's most recent standard survey for some homes is more than a year old. Every rating on this site is CMS's own, labelled with CMS's data date.
Can a New York nursing home discharge a resident who runs out of money?
A Medicaid-certified nursing home may not discharge a resident simply because their payment source changes from private pay or Medicare to Medicaid, and any involuntary discharge requires written notice and gives the resident the right to appeal.
Appeals of nursing home discharges in New York go through the Nursing Home Complaint and Discharge Appeal Hotline, 1-888-201-4563. Ask before admission whether the home keeps residents in the same room after conversion to Medicaid.
Where can I read a Rochester nursing home's inspection reports?
CMS Care Compare publishes each certified home's inspection results, deficiencies and fines, and NYS Health Profiles publishes the state's profile of the same home; both are free and need no login.
Our directory pages pull the CMS figures for every certified home in the five counties and link to its state profile. When a home's numbers look out of line, the full statement of deficiencies on Care Compare explains what surveyors actually found.
At a glance
| New York nursing home oversight includes | It does not include | |
|---|---|---|
| Staffing | A 3.5-hour daily floor checked quarterly | A per-shift ratio posted by the state |
| Inspections | State surveys for CMS certification | A separate state star rating |
| Discharge | Notice and appeal rights | Discharge for switching to Medicaid |
| Records | Care Compare and NYS Health Profiles | Paid reviews |
Sources include the N.Y. Social Services Law and Public Health Law, 18 NYCRR Parts 487-494, 10 NYCRR Parts 415 and 1001, Department of Health GIS messages, CMS, the VA and CareScout, as cited above; see our editorial standards.
