S 5063: Requires nursing homes, residential health care facilities, and adult care facilities to ask patients if they have a service-connected disability rating from the federal department of veterans affairs; requires such information to be delivered to the department of veterans' services and transmitted to city and county veterans' services agencies and officers.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5063 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 18, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. ASHBY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health AN ACT to amend the public health law and the veterans' services law, in relation to veteran information collected by certain facilities The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 2805-o of the public health 2 law, as amended by chapter 75 of the laws of 2022, are amended to read 3 as follows: 4 1. Every nursing home and residential health care facility as defined 5 in subdivisions two and three of section two thousand eight hundred one 6 of this article and every adult care facility licensed and certified by 7 the department pursuant to title two of article seven of the social 8 services law or article forty-six-B of this chapter, including all adult 9 homes, enriched housing programs, residences for adults, assisted living 10 programs, and assisted living residences shall keep and maintain accu- 11 rate records identifying veterans and their spouses residing within such 12 facilities. Such information shall be solicited by nursing home and/or 13 residential health care facility staff upon a patient's admission, noted 14 on the admission form, and included with the patient's file by asking 15 the [question] questions "Have you or your spouse ever served in the 16 United States military?" and "Do you have a service-connected disability 17 rating through the federal VA (department of veterans affairs)?". In the 18 case of patients currently residing at such nursing homes or residential 19 health care facilities, staff shall solicit such information by asking 20 the [question] questions "Have you or your spouse ever served in the 21 United States military?" and "Do you have a service-connected disability 22 rating through the federal VA (department of veterans affairs)?" from 23 each patient residing at such institution and update the patient's file 24 to indicate veteran status. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD09296-01-5 
 S. 5063 2 1 3. Every nursing home, residential health care facility and every 2 adult care facility licensed and certified by the department pursuant to 3 title two of article seven of the social services law or article forty- 4 six-B of this chapter, including all adult homes, enriched housing 5 programs, residences for adults, assisted living programs, and assisted 6 living residences, with the permission of individuals identifying them- 7 selves as veterans or spouses of veterans, shall transmit [such] all 8 veteran status information acquired pursuant to subdivision one of this 9 section to the [division] department of veterans' services. 10 § 2. Section 7 of the veterans' services law, as amended by chapter 11 449 of the laws of 2024, is amended to read as follows: 12 § 7. Information on status of veterans receiving assistance. Depart- 13 ments, divisions, bureaus, boards, commissions and agencies of the state 14 and political subdivisions thereof, which provide assistance, treatment, 15 counseling, care, supervision or custody in service areas involving 16 health, mental health, family services, criminal justice or employment, 17 including but not limited to the office of addiction services and 18 supports, office of mental health, office of probation and correctional 19 alternatives, office of children and family services, office of tempo- 20 rary and disability assistance, department of health, department of 21 labor, local workforce investment boards, office for people with devel- 22 opmental disabilities, and department of corrections and community 23 supervision, shall request assisted persons to provide information with 24 regard to their veteran status and military experiences. Individuals 25 identifying themselves as veterans, including individuals requesting and 26 obtaining a veteran notation on such individual's driver's license or 27 non-driver identification card pursuant to sections four hundred ninety 28 and five hundred two of the vehicle and traffic law, shall be advised 29 that the department of veterans' services and local veterans' service 30 agencies established pursuant to section fourteen of this article 31 provide assistance to veterans regarding benefits under federal and 32 state law. Information regarding veterans status and military service 33 provided by assisted persons solely to implement this section shall be 34 protected as personal confidential information under article six-A of 35 the public officers law against disclosure of confidential material, and 36 used only to assist in the diagnosis, treatment, assessment and handling 37 of the veteran's problems within the agency requesting such information 38 and in referring the veteran to the department of veterans' services for 39 information and assistance with regard to benefits and entitlements 40 under federal and state law. Any information on veteran status received 41 under section twenty-eight hundred five-o of the public health law shall 42 be documented internally and transmitted to the nearest office of the 43 department, the nearest county or city veterans' services agency, and 44 the nearest accredited veterans' service officer. 45 § 3. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a 46 law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any 47 rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its 48 effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such 49 effective date.