Nursing Home Administrator Licensure Requirements Under Review
(Oct. 15, 2024) In an Oct. 9th meeting, the Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators (BENHA) discussed possible updates in the regulations and policies governing nursing home administrator licensure. The discussion focused on the qualifying field experience and internship requirements, internship preceptor requirements, required coursework, and reciprocity. The BENHA approved the following proposals:
- The Department of Health (DOH) will offer the candidates the opportunity to receive prior approval of qualifying field experience plans. This will help to avoid situations in which candidates believe they have completed the one- or two-year required field experience, but learn that their experience fails to meet a technical requirement. Prior approval would be optional, not mandatory. This proposal represents a change in DOH policy that does not require any amendments to regulation.
- The required duration of the Administrator-in-Training (internship) track would be reduced from 12 months, full-time (1,820 hours) to 9 months, full-time (1,365 hours). Under this proposal, NY's required internship would still exceed the duration of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. This proposal would require amendment of state regulations at 10 NY Codes, Rules, and Regulations (NYCRR) 96.8.
- The qualifying requirements for internship preceptors would be modified to allow administrators-of-record in eligible facilities to qualify with one year of full-time service in the prior five years as administrator-of-record in a facility eligible to serve as a training site. This proposal would require a change in regulations at 10 NYCRR 96.8.
- The recency of required coursework would be modified to allow courses to be completed at any time, rather than within the prior 10 years. However, the nursing home administrator course would retain its recency requirement – it must be completed within the prior five years. This proposal requires only a change in DOH policy; the existing regulations do not include a recency requirement for coursework.
The Board also considered a proposal to allow reciprocity for out-of-state licensed nursing home administrators. Existing NY regulations require out-of-state administrators to meet specific educational and experiential requirements. The Board's discussion focused on the recency of the qualifying field experience element of NY's licensure requirements. The current requirement is two years within the prior five years. The proposal would have allowed any two years of qualifying experience for out-of-state licensees regardless of its recency. The Board declined to approve this proposal.
Before they can be implemented, the proposals that require changes in regulations (i.e., duration of the internship track and qualifying requirements for preceptors) must be published in the State Register, subjected to public comment, and published a second time for adoption.
These proposals were set in motion through the research and analysis of LeadingAge NY, in response to the shortage of nursing home administrators and the administrative barriers to career advancement of qualified professionals. Although the proposals do not reflect all of the changes the association sought, they represent a significant step toward building the pipeline and strengthening the profession.
The association will continue to update members as these proposals work their way toward implementation.
Contact: Karen Lipson, klipson@leadingageny.org