The James report follows earlier reporting suggesting that the count of deaths attributed to New York nursing homes was well below the reality.
As the Associated Press reported in August 2020:
"Unlike every other state with major outbreaks, New York only counts residents who died on nursing home property and not those who were transported to hospitals and died there.
"That statistic could add thousands to the state's official care home death toll of just over 6,600. But so far the administration of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has refused to divulge the number, leading to speculation the state is manipulating the figures to make it appear it is doing better than other states and to make a tragic situation less dire."

Cuomo's action related to nursing homes has been under considerable scrutiny since May, when reports suggested that his Department of Health had blocked nursing homes from rejecting residents based solely on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis. Cuomo rejected that report, insisting he had followed federal guidance on that front. "New York followed the President's agency's guidance, so that de-politicizes it," Cuomo said at the time. "What New York did was follow what the Republican administration said to do." (Cuomo announced a new policy on May 10, saying a hospital cannot discharge a person who is Covid positive to a nursing home.)

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/politics/andrew-cuomo-covid-19-new-york/index.html