Bill Text: NY A00286 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Requires hospitals to provide language assistance services to a patient or a patient's assistant for communication of clinical and other information, including but not limited to health care, billing and making appointments, to ensure effective communication; provides that such interpreter may be a qualified interpreter, volunteer or medical personnel at such hospital; provides for such services to be available at all locations during all times that patient care is available; provides that transactions of frequently used forms essential to a patient's care and treatment be available in all of the hospital's primary language; provides for training of those providing interpretation services; requires the hospital to submit to the commissioner an annual report assessing compliance; defines primary language and patient visits.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-01-06 - referred to health [A00286 Detail]

Download: New_York-2015-A00286-Introduced.html

---

                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                          286
                              2015-2016 Regular Sessions
                                 I N  A S S E M B L Y
                                      (PREFILED)
                                    January 7, 2015
                                      ___________
       Introduced  by M. of A. ROZIC, KAVANAGH -- read once and referred to the
         Committee on Health
       AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to  requiring  hospi-
         tals to provide language assistance services
         THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
       BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
    1    Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding  a  new  section
    2  2803-u to read as follows:
    3    S  2803-U.  PROVISION  OF LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE. 1. EVERY HOSPITAL SHALL
    4  PROVIDE LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE SERVICES TO A PATIENT OR  PATIENT  ASSISTANT
    5  SO  AS  TO  ENSURE  THAT  ALL  PATIENTS WHO CANNOT SPEAK, READ, WRITE OR
    6  UNDERSTAND THE ENGLISH  LANGUAGE  WITH  THE  PROFICIENCY  NECESSARY  FOR
    7  ADEQUATE  COMMUNICATION  WITH  HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS AND OTHER PERSONNEL
    8  HAVE EFFECTIVE ACCESS TO THE HOSPITAL'S PROGRAMS AND SERVICES, INCLUDING
    9  BUT NOT LIMITED TO HEALTH CARE, BILLING AND MAKING APPOINTMENTS.   EVERY
   10  HOSPITAL SHALL ENSURE THAT ALL INDIVIDUALS PROVIDING LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE
   11  SERVICES  TO  PATIENTS  HAVE  SUFFICIENT FLUENCY IN BOTH ENGLISH AND THE
   12  RELEVANT LANGUAGE TO COMMUNICATE CLINICAL AND OTHER  INFORMATION  NECES-
   13  SARY  FOR  THE PATIENT TO ACCESS SERVICES.  LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE SERVICES
   14  FOR  PRIMARY  AND  NON-PRIMARY  LANGUAGES  SHALL  BE  AVAILABLE  AT  ALL
   15  LOCATIONS DURING ALL TIMES THAT PATIENT CARE IS AVAILABLE, AND SHALL, TO
   16  THE  EXTENT  PRACTICABLE,  BE  PROVIDED  IN  PERSON. TRANSLATIONS OF ALL
   17  FREQUENTLY USED FORMS, AND OTHER WRITTEN MATERIALS THAT ARE ESSENTIAL TO
   18  A PATIENT'S CARE AND TREATMENT OR ARE  OTHERWISE  NECESSARY  TO  PROVIDE
   19  ADEQUATE  ACCESS TO THE HOSPITAL'S SERVICES SHALL BE AVAILABLE IN ALL OF
   20  THE HOSPITAL'S PRIMARY  LANGUAGES.  EVERY  HOSPITAL  SHALL  DEVELOP  AND
   21  IMPLEMENT  A  COMPREHENSIVE  LANGUAGE  ASSISTANCE  PLAN THAT ESTABLISHES
   22  UNIFORM  POLICIES  AND  PROCEDURES  FOR  PROVIDING  LANGUAGE  ASSISTANCE
   23  SERVICES,  INCLUDING  PROCEDURES  FOR  DOCUMENTING  THE PROVISION OF, OR
   24  REFUSAL OF, LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE SERVICES, AND THAT REQUIRES TRAINING  TO
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD00029-01-5
       A. 286                              2
    1  ENSURE  THAT  ALL  STAFF  WHO HAVE CONTACT WITH PATIENTS COMPLY WITH THE
    2  PLAN, AND THAT ALL STAFF  MEMBERS  WHO  PROVIDE  MEDICAL  INTERPRETATION
    3  SERVICES  IN  PRIMARY LANGUAGES HAVE RECEIVED TRAINING IN MEDICAL INTER-
    4  PRETATION. SUCH INDIVIDUAL PROVIDING LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE SERVICES MAY BE
    5  A  QUALIFIED  INTERPRETER, VOLUNTARY WORKER OR OTHER PERSONNEL CURRENTLY
    6  EMPLOYED BY SAID HOSPITAL AND MAY PERFORM OTHER DUTIES  AS  DIRECTED  BY
    7  THE HOSPITAL.
    8    2.   THE  STATEMENT  REGARDING  PATIENT  RIGHTS  AND  RESPONSIBILITIES
    9  REQUIRED PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH (G) OF SUBDIVISION ONE OF  SECTION  TWEN-
   10  TY-EIGHT HUNDRED THREE OF THIS ARTICLE SHALL INCLUDE A PROVISION NOTIFY-
   11  ING  PATIENTS  OF  THE  AVAILABILITY  OF  LANGUAGE  ASSISTANCE SERVICES,
   12  INCLUDING ORAL INTERPRETATION AND TRANSLATIONS OF FORMS AND OTHER  MATE-
   13  RIALS.  NOTICE OF THE AVAILABILITY OF LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE SERVICES SHALL
   14  ALSO BE POSTED IN CONSPICUOUS LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT THE HOSPITAL  AND  IN
   15  OUTPATIENT CLINICS, IN ALL PRIMARY LANGUAGES.
   16    3.  (A)  EVERY  HOSPITAL  SHALL  SUBMIT  TO THE COMMISSIONER AN ANNUAL
   17  REPORT ASSESSING ITS COMPLIANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF  THIS  SECTION.
   18  THE  REPORT  SHALL  IDENTIFY THE PRIMARY LANGUAGES USED BY ITS PATIENTS,
   19  AND THE PERCENTAGE OF THE HOSPITAL'S PATIENTS WHO SPEAK EACH SUCH PRIMA-
   20  RY LANGUAGE.
   21    (B) THE HOSPITAL SHALL MAINTAIN  A  RECORD  OF  THE  FOREIGN  LANGUAGE
   22  PRIMARILY SPOKEN BY ANY PATIENT SEEKING OR RECEIVING LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE
   23  SERVICES  AT THE HOSPITAL. SUCH INFORMATION SHALL BE RECORDED WHETHER OR
   24  NOT SUCH PATIENT ACTUALLY OBTAINS SUCH SERVICES.
   25    4.  THE COMMISSIONER SHALL PROMULGATE SUCH RULES  AND  REGULATIONS  AS
   26  MAY BE NECESSARY AND PROPER TO IMPLEMENT THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION,
   27  WHICH SHALL INCLUDE THE METHODOLOGY TO BE USED BY HOSPITALS IN DETERMIN-
   28  ING PRIMARY LANGUAGES.
   29    5. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION:
   30    (A)  "PRIMARY  LANGUAGE"  MEANS  A LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH THAT IS
   31  EITHER (I) USED TO COMMUNICATE, DURING AT LEAST ONE PERCENT  OF  PATIENT
   32  VISITS  IN  A  YEAR, BY PATIENTS WHO CANNOT SPEAK, READ, WRITE OR UNDER-
   33  STAND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AT THE LEVEL  OF  PROFICIENCY  NECESSARY  FOR
   34  EFFECTIVE  COMMUNICATION  WITH  HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS; OR (II) SPOKEN BY
   35  NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING INDIVIDUALS COMPRISING MORE THAN ONE PERCENT OF THE
   36  PRIMARY HOSPITAL SERVICE AREA POPULATION, AS CALCULATED BY  USING  DEMO-
   37  GRAPHIC  INFORMATION  AVAILABLE  FROM  THE  UNITED  STATES BUREAU OF THE
   38  CENSUS, SUPPLEMENTED BY DATA FROM SCHOOL SYSTEMS;
   39    (B) "PATIENT VISITS" SHALL INCLUDE ALL VISITS BY PATIENTS TO EMERGENCY
   40  ROOMS AND OUTPATIENT CLINICS, AS WELL AS  INPATIENT  ADMISSIONS  OF  THE
   41  HOSPITAL;
   42    (C)  "PATIENT  ASSISTANT" SHALL MEAN AN INDIVIDUAL WHO COMMUNICATES ON
   43  BEHALF OF ANOTHER WHO, BY REASON OF AGE OR INCAPACITY,  CANNOT  COMMUNI-
   44  CATE FOR HIMSELF OR HERSELF; AND
   45    (D) "HOSPITAL" SHALL MEAN A GENERAL HOSPITAL AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION
   46  TEN OF SECTION TWENTY-EIGHT HUNDRED ONE OF THIS ARTICLE.
   47    6.  NOTHING  IN  THIS  SECTION  SHALL PRECLUDE MEDICAL FACILITIES FROM
   48  PROVIDING LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE SERVICES IN  ADDITION  TO  THOSE  REQUIRED
   49  UNDER THIS SECTION.
   50    S 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
   51  it shall have become a law.