ELDERCARE TRANSPARENCY ACT
New York Families Deserve Transparency
Many New York families are discovering too late that the eldercare facility or home eldercare agency that they trusted to care for their loved ones are unlicensed, uninsured, and staffed by the untrained.
Unlicensed and uninsured eldercare facilities and providers are killing our most vulnerable family members. But finding licensing information can be complicated for consumers due to complicated state databases.
This has made it easy for a proliferation of unlicensed and uninsured, illegal “care” companies to prey on the elderly and their families.
The Eldercare Transparency Act would require every eldercare provider in the state to show their license number in every advertisement and all marketing material. All digital marketing (websites, social media accounts, etc.) would be required to include a live link to the state database confirming their license.
GOALS OF THE ELDERCARE TRANSPARENCY ACT
Require all eldercare facilities or home care agencies to list their license number on advertisements and marketing materials.
Require all eldercare facilities and home care agencies who use digital marketing (websites, emails, social media, and online newspapers) to include a live link to the state database showing their license.
Create stiff civil and criminal penalties for the owners and operators of illegal eldercare facilities and care agencies.
Create stiff civil penalties for media operators who don’t verify an eldercare operator’s license before running advertisements or “pay-to-play” articles.
“Her legacy drives our mission: to make transparency the law in New York.”
Bronia Rybsztajn
At 15, Bronia Rybsztajn led a daring escape from a Nazi concentration camp, saving herself and two friends before making her way to Brooklyn. Fierce, resilient, and independent, she spent the next eight decades building a family with her husband Jakub, raising a daughter, two sons, and numerous grand and great-grand children.
Bronia continued to care for herself and Jakub in their own home until she was 97, when after a surgery, her family finally convinced her to accept in-home eldercare.
They trusted Elite Care, a company owned by Eli Kohn, a prominent member of their shul (church). Kohn and Elite Care had been the focus of numerous articles published in the 5Towns Jewish Times newspaper exalting the firm’s services, including that they were licensed and insured and placed licensed, bonded nurses in the homes of their clients. Unfortunately for Bronia and her family, this was all a lie.
Bronia’s story reveals how unlicensed organizations exploit families, provide unsafe care, and operate without accountability. Her death underscores the urgent need for a law requiring every eldercare facility and home health provider in New York to disclose their licensing status clearly.
The Eldercare Transparency Act was founded so that no other family has to endure what Bronia’s did.
The Numbers Tell the Story
We don’t know how many unlicensed eldercare providers operate in New York. The state doesn’t publish that information publicly.
But California does. In California alone, an estimated 150,000 residents live in unlicensed nursing homes and assisted living facilities. But that number doesn’t include unlicensed home based agencies.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services states that roughly 11,500 registered home health care agencies exist in the United States. However, a recent review suggested that more than 24,000 home health care agencies operate without licensing or registration of any kind.
The NYS Association of Health Care Providers states that there are more than 1,300 licensed home care agencies in New York.
The home care industry in the United States is currently valued at $137.2 billion.
Nearly 180,000 New Yorkers receive home care funded by the Federal Medicare Program, with hundreds of thousands more receiving home care through Medicaid programs. Thousands more are using private insurance or self pay to cover home health care needs from licensed providers.
Comparing to nationwide, available statistics, thousands of unlicensed, unregistered, uninsured home health care agencies are functioning in New York right now, putting countless elderly New Yorkers in danger.
ETA Blog
SUPPORT THE ELDERCARE TRANSPARENCY ACT
We need Albany lawmakers to act. Add your name to our petition below, share your story, and help us push for transparency in New York eldercare.
“As a New York resident, I support the Eldercare Transparency Act. Seniors and families deserve to know that every eldercare provider is licensed, accountable, and transparent. I urge you to pass this legislation.”
Get Involved with the ETA
Want to do more?
Volunteer with ETA to spread the word, share your story, report unlicensed eldercare operators, or join us in Albany.
Licensed to Care Podcast
Weekly interviews with prosecutors, regulators, and eldercare authorities on why New York needs transparency in senior care and what we can do to achieve that goal.
Episode 1: Bronia’s Story — Why Transparency Matters
The first episode of Licensed to Care introduces the Eldercare Transparency Act, explains why this legislation is urgently needed, and shares the story of Bronia Rybsztajn, whose experience and ultimate death revealed dangerous gaps in oversight and the dark underbelly of the eldercare industry. We outline how ETA plans to bring this bill before New York lawmakers and preview future episodes featuring prosecutors, regulators, advocates and other victims of unlicensed eldercare operators helping us understand the current system and how to change it.
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