The Board licenses funeral directors, embalmers, and undertakers. It also regulates funeral establishments and crematory facilities. The Bureau investigates complaints and imposes disciplinary sanctions.
You can offer package funeral arrangements to qualifying persons on a contract basis. However, you must give them a General Price List, Casket Price List and Outer Burial Container Price List and comply with other Rule provisions.
Licensed by the State
The Bureau licenses funeral directors, embalmers and undertakers, and oversees funeral establishments. It also investigates complaints and takes disciplinary action when necessary. Licensed professionals handle funeral arrangements, provide public health services and file death certificates with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Office of Vital Records.
A face-to-face meeting is required before a funeral provider must give consumers a General Price List (GPL). You can’t just tell them you have one or show it to them in a binder or booklet, either. A GPL must be offered to a consumer in writing and be made available for inspection.
Some funeral providers enter into agreements with government agencies to offer funeral arrangements at special prices for indigent persons or other persons entitled to a government benefit. You can still offer these packages as long as you offer them in addition to, not instead of, your regular itemized prices and disclosures. You also must comply with the other Rule requirements at this time.
Licensed by the City
Some funeral providers enter into agreements with religious groups, burial societies, or memorial societies to arrange funerals for their members at special prices. This arrangement is legal, but the Rule still requires that you provide these representatives with your price lists when they inquire about arrangements on behalf of their members. You may choose to add these special prices to your regular price list or prepare a separate price list for them.
To become a licensed funeral director, you must graduate from an accredited mortuary science program and pass the National Board exam. Then, you must serve a 12-month residency in a registered NYS funeral establishment under the supervision of a licensed funeral director.
The International Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards is a group of governmental boards that regulate funeral directors, embalmers, and funeral establishments. The Conference addresses licensure qualification, examination, state-to-state reciprocity and other issues that affect the profession. It also facilitates communication between regulators across jurisdictions.
Licensed by the County
Some funeral providers enter into arrangements with government agencies to provide funeral services for indigent persons or others who qualify under a specific state law. If you are asked to discuss such arrangements by telephone or mail, the Rule does not require you to give the person a General Price List (GPL). However, if you later meet with the person in your funeral home, at their home, or when you remove them from hospital or a nursing facility and begin discussing prices and arrangements, you must provide a GPL.
You must also include on your GPL a non-declinable fee for basic services of the funeral director and staff, which is discussed in Required Disclosures. This is a new requirement under the Rule. The fee may not exceed your regular charge for arranging a funeral. The fee is not subject to the minimum funeral charge.
Licensed by the District
The Funeral Rule requires that you give consumers accurate price information for the specific funeral goods and services you sell. This information must be included in the General Price List (GPL). The GPL enables consumers to comparison shop, and to select only the funeral goods and services they want.
You must offer the GPL to anyone who inquires by telephone or in person, whether they want to make arrangements now or later. This includes the relatives of a deceased person and other persons. You may not charge a fee to provide the GPL, but you must provide it to any person who asks for it.
The Rule also allows you to offer packages of your funeral goods and services, but only if they are offered in addition to, not instead of, itemized prices. You cannot include a non-declinable fee for overhead in the package, and you must disclose the cost of embalming separately. You must also disclose any fees for forwarding, receiving, direct cremation, or immediate burial.