Section 4600. Legislative findings and purpose

The dramatic increase in the
  numbers  of  elderly  people, especially those seventy-five years of age
  and older, coupled with the special housing and  health  care  needs  of
  this  growing segment of the population, requires the development of new
  and creative approaches to help ensure  the  care  of  older  people  in
  residential  settings  of  their  own  choice.  If carefully planned and
  monitored, life  care  communities  have  the  potential  to  provide  a
  continuum  of  care  for  older  people  that will provide an attractive
  residential option for such persons, while meeting their long term  care
  needs  for life. To ensure that the financial, consumer, and health care
  interest  of  individuals  who  enroll  in  such  communities  will   be
  protected,  such  communities  must be effectively managed and carefully
  overseen.
    The intent of the legislature, therefore, is to allow for the  prudent
  development  of  life care communities.  The legislature further intends
  to require that the relevant state agencies coordinate the regulation of
  such communities in order to ensure that there are  adequate  safeguards
  for  those  elderly  who  become  residents and to assist in the orderly
  development, of such communities. Although lead responsibility  for  the
  interagency  coordination  of  the  regulation and establishment of such
  communities is vested in the department of health, the legislature  does
  not  intend  that  such  communities become or be perceived as primarily
  medically-oriented facilities. The legislature  intends,  instead,  that
  such  communities  be viewed as an attractive and innovative residential
  alternative for older New Yorkers who are seeking to  maintain,  to  the
  extent  possible, an independent and active life in a community in which
  their long-term care needs will be met.