At the time of an application for Medicaid, the Department of Social Services will look at all transfers of assets in the last 36 month (60 months for transfers to trust) to determine whether the applicant is eligible, or if there remains a period of ineligibility due to prior transfers. For institutional Medicaid, an applicant is ineligible for coverage for a period of time after a gift or transer of assets. (There are some transfers such as those between spouses or to a disabled child, that are exempt.) That time period depends on the value of the assets transferred for less than fair market value, divided by the average cost of nursing facility services to a private patient in the community. to determine the time period, we refer to the average monthly cost of nursing home services in New York State for 2004 as follows: Central New York - $5,842 Long Island - $9,296 New York City - $8,695 Northeastern New York - $6,254 Northern Metropolitan Area - $7,902 Rochester - $6,672 Western New York - $5,854 Do we all realize the need for advance planning?!