NY State EP Alert 6.18.2025|Revised HERDS Survey NOW OPEN
The new weekly Health Electronic Response Data System (HERDS) reporting requirement for Licensed Home Care Service Agencies (LHCSAs) launched yesterday, June 17, 2025. The revised survey comes with a new title: COVID LHCSA Effective 6.17.25 HERDS.
As previously reported by HCP, there is now a mandatory county census question in the weekly Department of Health (DOH/the Department) LHCSA HERDS survey. To compensate for the added burden, DOH is giving providers an extended window for submitting their responses. The report will continue to be released weekly at 8:00am on Tuesdays, and the survey will remain open until Thursdays at 2:00pm. Print a copy before submission if you want a record of the survey. Note that the weekly survey for Certified Home Health Care Agencies (CHHA) and hospice providers remains unchanged and is still due on the day of release.
Companies or organizations with multiple LHCSA licenses are expected to complete the survey for each license number. All LHCSAs must submit the survey, including those only serving Assisted Living Program/s (ALP); this is a new requirement.
Note that DOH informed HCP that in this week’s survey, there were many submissions that were incomplete. The Department plans to contact those entities and instruct them to resubmit a corrected survey. Agencies that do not submit the weekly survey at all may be referred for enforcement, which can result in fines of $2,000 per occurrence.
The Department held a short webinar about the revision on June 10, 2025. The slides and recording are posted on the NYS Learning Management System. The course title is OALTC-HERDS20250610 – LHCSA HERDS Weekly COVID Reporting Changes–Training Webinar.
Details about the revision are outlined in Dear Administrator Letter (DAL) DHCBS 25-09.
Inquiries related to COVID-19 and the HERDS Surveys, including difficulties with submission, should be referred to the Department’s program-specific email address. HCP members are welcome to contact us any time with questions as well.