Disclosure of Nursing Quality Indicators – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2805-t

Every hospital with an operating certificate must make available to the public information regarding nurse staffing and patient outcomes as specified by the commissioner by rule and regulation.  This information must include:

• The number of registered nurses providing direct care and the ratio of patients per registered nurse, full-time equivalent, providing direct care.  This information should be expressed in actual numbers, in terms of total hours of nursing care per patient, including adjustment for case mix and acuity, and as a percentage of patient care staff, and shall be broken down in terms of the total patient care staff, each unit, and each shift.
• The number of licensed practical nurses providing direct care.  This information should be expressed in actual numbers, in terms of total hours of nursing care per patient including adjustment for case mix and acuity, and as a percentage of patient care staff, and shall be broken down in terms of the total patient care staff, each unit, and each shift.
• The number of unlicensed personnel utilized to provide direct patient care, including adjustment for case mix and acuity.  This information shall be expressed both in actual numbers and as a percentage of patient care staff and shall be broken down in terms of the total patient care staff, each unit, and each shift.
• Incidence of adverse patient care, including incidents such as medication errors, patient injury, decubitus ulcers, nosocomial infections, and nosocomial urinary tract infections.
• Methods used for determining and adjusting staffing levels and patient care needs and the facility's compliance with these methods.
• Data regarding complaints filed with any state or federal regulatory agency, or an accrediting agency, and data regarding investigations and findings as a result of those complaints, degree of compliance with acceptable standards, and the findings of scheduled inspection visits.

This information must be provided to the commissioner of any state agency responsible for licensing or accrediting the facility, or responsible for overseeing the delivery of services either directly or indirectly and to any member of the public who requests such information directly from the facility.