Section 4601. Definitions

As used in this article:
    1.   "Certificates"  or  "certificate  of  authority"  shall  mean  an
  authorization in writing, approved by the  council  and  issued  by  the
  commissioner,  for  an  operator to operate a continuing care retirement
  community  and  to  enter  into  continuing  care  retirement  contracts
  pertaining to such community.
    2. "Commissioner" shall mean the commissioner of health.
    2-a.  "Continuing  care  retirement  contract"  shall  mean  a  single
  contract to provide a person the services provided by a continuing  care
  retirement community.
    2-b.  "Continuing care retirement community" or "community" shall mean
  a  facility  or  facilities  established  to  provide  a  comprehensive,
  cohesive living arrangement for the elderly, oriented to the enhancement
  of  the  quality  of  life  and  which,  pursuant  to  the  terms of the
  continuing care contract, at a minimum:
    a. provides independent living units, and provides a  meal  plan.  The
  independent   living  unit  can  be  made  available  either  through  a
  non-equity arrangement or through an equity arrangement  including,  but
  not  limited  to  a  cooperative  or  condominium.  For purposes of this
  article, the purchase price of an independent living unit in  an  equity
  arrangement, regardless of the form of the purchase agreement, shall not
  be   considered  an  entry  fee  for  purposes  of  calculating  reserve
  liabilities, but shall be considered an entry fee for escrow purposes;
    b. provides a range of health care and  social  services,  subject  to
  such  terms  as may be included within the contract, which shall include
  home health care, nursing care, and at a minimum, sixty days of  prepaid
  services of an on-site or affiliated nursing facility;
    c.  provides  access  to  health  services as defined in the contract,
  prescription drugs, and rehabilitation services; and
    d. nothing in  this  article  shall  eliminate  the  obligation  of  a
  continuing  care  retirement community to provide at least sixty days of
  prepaid nursing facility services to all  residents.  The  prepaid  days
  must  include the first sixty days of nursing facility services, whether
  or not consecutive, not covered by Title XVIII  of  the  federal  social
  security act.
    3.  "Contracts"  or "agreements" shall mean continuing care retirement
  contracts as defined in this article.
    4.  "Control",  "controlling",  "controlled  by",  and  "under  common
  control with" shall mean the possession, directly, or indirectly, of the
  power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of
  a  person,  whether through the ownership of voting securities or voting
  rights,  by  contract  (except  a  commercial  contract  for  goods   or
  non-management  services) or otherwise; but no person shall be deemed to
  control another person solely by reason  of  his  being  an  officer  or
  director of such other person. Control shall be presumed to exist if any
  person directly or indirectly owns, controls, or holds with the power to
  vote  ten  percent  or more of the voting securities or voting rights of
  any other person or is a corporate member of the legal entity.
    5. "Council" shall  mean  the  continuing  care  retirement  community
  council,  established  pursuant to section forty-six hundred two of this
  article.
    6. "Entrance fee" shall mean an initial or  deferred  transfer  to  an
  operator  of  a sum of money, made or promised to be made by a person or
  persons entering into a continuing care  retirement  contract,  for  the
  purpose of ensuring services pursuant to such a contract.
    7.  "Facility" shall mean any place in which an operator undertakes to
  provide a resident with the services of  a  continuing  care  retirement

  community,  pursuant  to  a contract, whether such place is constructed,
  owned, leased, rented, or otherwise contracted for by the operator.
    8. "Life care contract" shall mean a single continuing care retirement
  contract  to  provide  a person, for the duration of such person's life,
  the services provided by the continuing care retirement community, which
  services shall include unlimited services of an  on-site  or  affiliated
  nursing  facility.  Such  term  also shall mean a single continuing care
  retirement contract to provide  a  person,  for  the  duration  of  such
  person's  life,  the services provided by the continuing care retirement
  community under an arrangement in which  the  costs  of  the  residents'
  unlimited  nursing  home  or  home  health care services are paid for in
  whole or in part by a long term care insurance policy  approved  by  the
  superintendent in accordance with applicable regulations or by long term
  care  insurance  or  medical  assistance payments in accordance with the
  partnership for long term care program pursuant  to  the  provisions  of
  section  three hundred sixty-seven-f of the social services law, section
  three thousand two hundred twenty-nine of the insurance law and  section
  four thousand six hundred twenty-three of this chapter.
    9.  "Life  care shall mean those services provided pursuant to a "life
  care contract".
    10. "Living unit" shall mean an apartment,  room,  cottage,  or  other
  area  within  a community set aside for the exclusive use of one or more
  residents.
    10-a. "Meal  plan"  shall  mean  an  arrangement  whereby  the  person
  entering  into  the continuing care retirement contract is provided with
  no fewer than five meals per month. Additional meals shall be  available
  on a fee-for-service basis.
    11.  "Monthly  care fee" shall mean the monthly cost to a resident for
  prepayment of any services,  including  rent,  rendered  pursuant  to  a
  contract, exclusive of entrance fees or other prepayments, and any other
  regular periodic charges to the resident, determined on a monthly basis,
  pursuant to the provisions of a contract.
    12.  "Operator"  shall mean a legal entity operating a continuing care
  retirement community pursuant to a certificate of authority.
    13. "Priority reservation agreement" shall mean a cancelable agreement
  between a prospective continuing care retirement community applicant, an
  applicant  for  a  certificate  of  authority  or  an  operator  and   a
  prospective  resident, for the purpose of evaluating market demand for a
  proposed continuing care retirement community and  for  the  purpose  of
  guaranteeing  to  prospective  residents  an  opportunity  for  priority
  placement in a continuing care retirement  community,  under  which  the
  prospective  resident  will pay a refundable priority reservation fee. A
  priority reservation agreement does  not  fall  within  the  meaning  of
  contracts or agreements as defined in subdivision three of this section.
    14.  "Priority reservation fee" shall mean the refundable sum of money
  paid by a prospective resident for deposit with the escrow agent  for  a
  prospective continuing care retirement community applicant, an applicant
  for  a  certificate  of  authority or an operator pursuant to a priority
  reservation agreement.
    15. "Resident" shall mean any person who, pursuant to a  contract,  is
  entitled  to  reside  in  and  receive  services  from a continuing care
  retirement community.
    16. "Residential health care  demonstration  facility"  shall  mean  a
  residential health care facility containing up to sixty beds, within the
  defined  geographical boundary of each health systems agency established
  under the provisions of subdivision (c) of section  twenty-nine  hundred
  four  of  this  chapter,  provided  that  such  residential  health care
  facility is an integrated part of a comprehensive system of  residential

  and  support  services  for  the  elderly,  providing either directly or
  through one or more affiliated entities, prior to the effective date  of
  this subdivision, on or adjacent to the site of the proposed residential
  health  care  facility, independent living units, an adult care facility
  as defined in section two of the social services  law  and  a  range  of
  health  care  and  social  services, which may include home health care,
  counselling, case management and information and referral.
    16-a. "Social services" shall mean those services which  may  include,
  but  not  be limited to counseling, case management, and information and
  referral.
    17. "Superintendent" shall mean the superintendent of insurance.