Bill Text: NY A00534 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Provides that authorities having control of a fire department or fire company which provides emergency medical services may establish fees and charges for services.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-02-11 - print number 534b [A00534 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A00534-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 534--B 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 6, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. JONES, RA, LAVINE, WOERNER, DiPIETRO, BYRNE, STECK, COOK, JEAN-PIERRE, NORRIS, GALEF, FAHY, BRONSON, LUPARDO, ABINANTI, BARRETT, SOLAGES, GOODELL, HUNTER, PHEFFER AMATO, COLTON, B. MILLER, BUTTENSCHON, BRABENEC, DeSTEFANO, BURKE, WALSH, MONTESANO, SMULLEN, MANKTELOW, SAYEGH, TAGUE, JACOBSON, MIKULIN, HAWLEY, WALLACE, STIRPE, ZEBROWSKI, STERN, GUNTHER, McMAHON, ASHBY, SALKA, GRIFFIN, DURSO, SIMPSON, LAWLER, SILLITTI, GANDOLFO, J. D. RIVERA, LUNSFORD, KELLES, BURDICK, ANGELINO, J. M. GIGLIO, RAMOS, FITZPATRICK, DARLING, BROWN, JOYNER, HEVESI, SMITH -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BYRNES, ENGLEBRIGHT, M. MILLER -- read once and referred to the Committee on Local Governments -- reported and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- recommitted to the Committee on Ways and Means in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the general municipal law and the town law, in relation to authorizing fees and charges for emergency medical services The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 209-b of the general municipal 2 law, as amended by chapter 476 of the laws of 2018, is amended to read 3 as follows: 4 4. Fees and charges [prohibited] authorized. [Emergency] (a) Subject 5 to the restrictions set forth in paragraph (d) of this subdivision, 6 emergency and general ambulance service, including emergency medical 7 service as defined in section three thousand one of the public health 8 law, authorized pursuant to this section [shall] may be furnished with- 9 out cost to the person served; provided, however, that the authorities 10 having control of a fire department or fire company that have authorized EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03579-11-2A. 534--B 2 1 such fire department or fire company to provide such service or services 2 may fix a schedule of fees or charges to be paid by persons requesting 3 such service or services. The authorities having control of a fire 4 department or fire company may provide for the collection of fees and 5 charges or may formulate rules and regulations for the collection there- 6 of by the fire department or fire company. When fees and charges are 7 authorized pursuant to this subdivision, the fees and charges collected 8 shall be disbursed in accordance with a written contract entered into 9 between the authority having control of a fire department or fire compa- 10 ny and the fire department or fire company itself. The acceptance by 11 any firefighter of any personal remuneration or gratuity, directly or 12 indirectly, from a person served shall be a ground for his or her expul- 13 sion or suspension as a member of the fire department or fire company. 14 (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subdivi- 15 sion, a basic life support service which establishes a schedule of fees 16 for service shall enter into a contract with a provider or providers of 17 advanced life support services to provide such advanced life support 18 services. Such contract shall at a minimum establish the fees for 19 advanced life support services and the means by which said provider will 20 be reimbursed when the ambulance service bills for emergency medical 21 service. 22 (c) An emergency and general ambulance service, including emergency 23 medical service as defined in section three thousand one of the public 24 health law, authorized pursuant to this section which does not issue a 25 bill for its services and which requests an Advanced Life Support (ALS) 26 intercept from another ambulance service furnishing service in an area 27 that is designated as a rural area by any law or regulation of the 28 state, or that is located in a rural census tract of a metropolitan 29 statistical area (as determined under the most recent Goldsmith Modifi- 30 cation), shall pay the ambulance service providing the ALS intercept an 31 ALS Rural Intercept Fee at rates negotiated between the providers of 32 such services. In the absence of any agreed upon rates, the service 33 receiving such ALS intercept shall pay the service providing the ALS 34 intercept for such services at the usual and customary charge, which 35 shall not be excessive or unreasonable. 36 (d) An emergency and general ambulance service, including emergency 37 medical service as defined in section three thousand one of the public 38 health law, authorized pursuant to this section to fix a schedule of 39 fees or charges to be paid by persons requesting such service or 40 services, may apply such fees and charges only within such service's 41 primary response territory as assigned and evidenced by a valid ambu- 42 lance service certificate issued by the commissioner of health pursuant 43 to section three thousand five of the public health law, on or before 44 January first, two thousand twenty-two. 45 (e) An emergency and general ambulance service, including emergency 46 medical service as defined in section three thousand one of the public 47 health law, authorized pursuant to this section shall not directly issue 48 a bill for its services to any uninsured recipient of such services. 49 § 2. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 1 of section 122-b of the general 50 municipal law, as amended by chapter 303 of the laws of 1980, is amended 51 to read as follows: 52 (e) [No] A contract [shall] may be entered into pursuant to the 53 provisions of this section for the services of an emergency rescue and 54 first aid squad of a fire department or fire company which is subject to 55 the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of [the general municipal56law] this chapter;A. 534--B 3 1 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 184 of the town law, as amended by chap- 2 ter 599 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows: 3 1. Whenever the town board shall have established or extended a fire 4 protection district pursuant to the provisions of this article, the town 5 board shall provide for the furnishing of fire protection within the 6 district and for that purpose may (a) contract with any city, village, 7 fire district or incorporated fire company maintaining adequate and 8 suitable apparatus and appliances for the furnishing of fire protection 9 in such district or (b) may acquire by gift or purchase such apparatus 10 and appliances for use in such district and may contract with any city, 11 village, fire district or incorporated fire company for operation, main- 12 tenance, and repair of the same and for the furnishing of fire 13 protection in such district, or both. The contract may also provide for 14 the furnishing of (1) emergency service in case of accidents, calamities 15 or other emergencies in connection with which the services of firefight- 16 ers would be required and (2) general ambulance service subject, howev- 17 er, to the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the general 18 municipal law. In the event that the fire department or fire company 19 furnishing fire protection within the district pursuant to contract does 20 not maintain and operate an ambulance then a separate contract may be 21 made for the furnishing within the district of emergency ambulance 22 service or general ambulance service, or both, with any city, village or 23 fire district the fire department of which, or with an incorporated fire 24 company having its headquarters outside the district which, maintains 25 and operates an ambulance subject, however, in the case of general ambu- 26 lance service, to the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the 27 general municipal law, or with an ambulance service, certified or regis- 28 tered pursuant to article thirty of the public health law[, which is not29organized under the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the30general municipal law]. Any such contract with any such ambulance 31 service permitted herein shall be subject to the provisions of this 32 section. 33 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 34 have become a law and shall apply to health care claims submitted on or 35 after such date.