Nursing Home Inspection Reports in New York: How to Check Any Facility

Two Databases You Need to Check

New York nursing homes are inspected by both state and federal regulators, and the results are published in two separate databases. Checking only one gives you half the picture. Here is how to use both.

NYSDOH Health Profiles

The New York State Department of Health publishes nursing home profiles at profiles.health.ny.gov. This is the state-level database, and it contains information you will not find in the federal system:

• Health inspection results from state surveys, including specific deficiency citations
• Fire safety inspection results
• Complaint investigation outcomes (how many complaints were filed and what was found)
• Active enforcement actions — fines, directed plans of correction, or operating certificate restrictions
• Facility ownership information and administrative contacts

To use it: go to profiles.health.ny.gov, select "Nursing Home," and search by facility name, county, or ZIP code. Each facility profile includes tabs for inspection results, complaints, and enforcement history.

CMS Care Compare

The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services publishes nursing home data at medicare.gov/care-compare. This database provides standardized ratings that make it easier to compare facilities:

• Overall star rating (1 to 5 stars) based on three components:
  • Health inspection rating — derived from the most recent three years of standard surveys and complaint investigations
  • Quality measures rating — based on clinical performance data like pressure ulcer rates, use of antipsychotic medications, falls with major injury, and UTI rates
  • Staffing rating — based on reported staffing levels, including registered nurse hours per resident day
• Individual deficiency citations from federal surveys, with severity and scope classifications
• Penalty history — fines, payment denials, and other federal sanctions

To use it: go to medicare.gov/care-compare, select "Nursing Homes," and search by location. The star ratings provide a quick screening tool, but the individual inspection findings underneath are where the real information lives.

What to Look For

Star ratings are useful for initial screening, but they can obscure important details. A 4-star facility might have had a serious abuse citation that was resolved, while a 2-star facility might have low staffing ratings but excellent health inspection results. Dig into the specifics.

Red flags in inspection reports:

• Immediate jeopardy findings — the most serious citation level, meaning a deficiency has caused or is likely to cause serious injury, harm, impairment, or death. Any facility with an immediate jeopardy finding in the past three years warrants extreme caution.
• Pattern or widespread deficiencies — a problem that affects multiple residents or multiple areas of care, not just an isolated incident
• Repeat deficiencies — the same citation appearing on multiple consecutive surveys indicates a systemic problem the facility has failed to correct
• Abuse or neglect citations — any finding related to physical abuse, verbal abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of resident property
• High use of antipsychotic medications — facilities that chemically sedate residents at significantly higher rates than the state average may be using medication as a staffing shortcut rather than a clinical treatment

Staffing numbers to compare:

• The national average for registered nurse hours is approximately 0.7 hours per resident per day. Facilities significantly below this number may not have adequate clinical oversight during evening and night shifts.
• Current Care Compare data show a national average of roughly 3.9 total nurse-staff hours per resident per day. Use the current national and state averages as comparison points rather than treating 3.5 hours as a legal minimum; higher-acuity facilities may need more.

Assisted Living Inspection Records

For adult care facilities (assisted living), the NYSDOH publishes separate profiles at profiles.health.ny.gov/acf/. These include:

• Licensure and certification type (ACF, ALR, EALR, SNALR)
• Health and fire safety inspection results
• Complaint investigation summaries
• Enforcement actions

CMS Care Compare does not cover assisted living facilities — only the state database has this information. Since assisted living in New York is regulated entirely at the state level (not by CMS), the NYSDOH profile is your only source for inspection data.

How to Use This Information

Do not use inspection reports as a pass/fail filter. Use them as a structured way to ask better questions during your facility tour:

1. Before the tour: Pull up the NYSDOH profile and CMS Care Compare page for the facility. Note any deficiency citations from the past two to three years, the staffing levels, and the overall rating.
2. During the tour: Ask the administrator about specific findings. "I see you had a citation for medication errors in 2025. What changes did you make?" A facility that can explain what it fixed and how demonstrates accountability. A facility that deflects or claims the inspector was wrong is telling you something different.
3. After the tour: Compare the inspection data across the three to five facilities you are considering. Rank them by immediate jeopardy history, repeat deficiency patterns, and staffing levels.

Building the Full Evaluation

Inspection reports are one piece of the evaluation. They tell you about regulatory compliance but do not capture daily experience — how the food tastes, whether staff know residents' names, whether the common areas are active or empty.

Our New York Care Decision Guide includes a facility evaluation scorecard that combines inspection data review with on-site observation criteria, fee schedule analysis, and discharge protection verification. It is designed to be used during tours so you walk out with a complete, comparable evaluation for every facility you visit.

See more New York guides →