IN RE: UNITY HOME CARE AGENCY (2019)

Determination of respondent New York State Department of Health (DOH), dated November 20, 2017, which revoked petitioner's license to operate as a home health care agency and imposed a $ 1,000 civil penalty, unanimously confirmed, the petition denied, and the proceeding brought pursuant to CPLR article 78 (transferred to this Court by order of Supreme Court, Bronx County [Howard H. Sherman, J.], entered on or about January 24, 2018), dismissed, without costs.

The determination that petitioner violated numerous DOH regulations is supported by substantial evidence (see 300 Gramatan Ave. Assoc. v. State Div. of Human Rights, 45 N.Y.2d 176, 180, 408 N.Y.S.2d 54, 379 N.E.2d 1183 [1978] ).  Statements of Deficiencies, prepared after DOH unsuccessfully attempted to survey petitioner's offices on four separate occasions between 2009 and 2015, and testimony of the witnesses at the administrative hearing provided sufficient evidence to support the charges levied against petitioner (see Public Health Law § 10[2] ).

The penalty imposed does not shock our sense of fairness.  Petitioner's failure to comply with regulations requiring it, among other things, to notify DOH of changes in its office location and to provide access to its records, resulted in DOH being unable to monitor petitioner's operations over a period of at least six years.  Revocation of an operating license is not an excessive penalty where the operators' multiple violations threaten the health and safety of others (see e.g. Simpson v. New York State Off. of Children and Family Servs, Bur. of Early Childhood Servs., 93 A.D.3d 588, 941 N.Y.S.2d 557 [1st Dept. 2012] );  Clarke v. New York State Off. of Children and Family Servs., 91 A.D.3d 489, 935 N.Y.S.2d 884 [1st Dept. 2012] ).

We have considered petitioner's remaining arguments and find them unavailing.