Bill Text: NY A00733 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Relates to providing information to patients and the public on policy-based exclusions; requires the commissioner of health to collect from each health care facility a list of its policy-based exclusions and publish such information on the department's website.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 40-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2023-05-24 - substituted by s1003a [A00733 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A00733-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         733--A

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 11, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced   by   M.   of  A.  ROZIC,  REYES,  STIRPE,  CARROLL,  SIMON,
          GONZALEZ-ROJAS, FAHY, HEVESI, DINOWITZ,  SEAWRIGHT,  JACOBSON,  AUBRY,
          WALLACE,  KELLES,  STECK, GLICK, L. ROSENTHAL, BARRETT, OTIS, SOLAGES,
          GALLAGHER, ARDILA, RAGA -- read once and referred to the Committee  on
          Health  -- reported and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means --
          committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as  amended  and
          recommitted to said committee

        AN ACT to amend the public health law and the insurance law, in relation
          to  providing  information  to patients and the public on policy-based
          exclusions

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature finds that since 2003
     2  more than 40 community hospitals in New York state have closed.
     3    The  legislature  additionally  finds  that  as  a  result of hospital
     4  consolidation, large health  care  systems  now  control  more  than  70
     5  percent of acute hospital beds in the state and that these systems some-
     6  times  remove  categories of care from local hospitals, leaving patients
     7  in regions of the state without access  to  particular  types  of  care,
     8  including some types of emergency care.
     9    The legislature further finds that patients do not have the ability to
    10  determine  whether health care facilities in their area provide the care
    11  they seek, because information about how  facility  restrictions  impact
    12  options for care is too difficult to obtain.
    13    The  legislature  also  finds that denials and poor access to care can
    14  lead to serious adverse  health  impacts  that  jeopardize  individuals'
    15  lives  and  wellbeing  and that New York needs to understand health care
    16  gaps and their impact statewide.
    17    Finally, the legislature finds that some denials of care violate state
    18  and federal law.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02598-05-3
        A. 733--A                           2

     1    § 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section  2803-bb
     2  to read as follows:
     3    §  2803-bb.  Policy-based exclusions.  1. Definitions. As used in this
     4  section:  (a) "Health care facility" means a general hospital as defined
     5  in subdivision ten of section twenty-eight hundred one of this article.
     6    (b) "Policy-based exclusions" means any criteria, rules, or  policies,
     7  whether  written  or unwritten, formally adopted or drafted, endorsed by
     8  the health care facility or  followed  from  an  external  source,  that
     9  restrict  medical  personnel at that health care facility from providing
    10  types of care that the medical personnel is licensed to provide and that
    11  the health care facility is licensed to provide  or  that  restrict  the
    12  provision  of care to categories of patients on the basis of any charac-
    13  teristic protected under section two hundred ninety-six of the executive
    14  law that the health care facility is licensed to provide.  "Policy-based
    15  exclusions" shall include, but  not  be  limited  to,  objections  under
    16  section  twenty-nine  hundred eighty-four or twenty-nine hundred ninety-
    17  four-n of this chapter.   "Policy-based exclusions"  shall  not  include
    18  restrictions  based  on  lack  of  equipment, available bed space in the
    19  facility, or insurance denial.
    20    2. (a) The commissioner shall collect from each health care facility a
    21  list of its policy-based exclusions on an annual basis.
    22    (b) The commissioner shall  publish  on  the  department's  website  a
    23  current  list  of  all  of  the health care facilities with policy-based
    24  exclusions and the policy-based exclusions for each health care facility
    25  not later than six months after the effective date of this section.  The
    26  commissioner  shall update this list on an annual basis. The commission-
    27  er, in consultation with experts in health care access, patient  advoca-
    28  cy,  types of health care that are frequently inaccessible, and hospital
    29  administration shall promulgate rules and regulations creating standard-
    30  ized language for this list to ensure that it is readily  understandable
    31  to patients, prospective patients, and members of the public.
    32    (c)  Within  one  year of the effective date of this section and every
    33  five years thereafter, the commissioner shall submit  a  report  to  the
    34  temporary  president  of  the  senate  and  the  speaker of the assembly
    35  regarding policy-based exclusions in the state and the  impact  of  such
    36  policy-based  exclusions on patients' ability to access quality, compre-
    37  hensive, affordable care near  their  residences  and  whether  and  how
    38  access to care varies by community, as well as by race, gender, ethnici-
    39  ty,  sexual  orientation,  gender  identity  or  gender  expression, and
    40  socioeconomic status, across the state. The report shall be made public-
    41  ly available on the department's website.
    42    (d) The commissioner shall evaluate and ensure community awareness  of
    43  policy-based  exclusions  and the website required pursuant to paragraph
    44  (b) of this subdivision.
    45    (e) The commissioner may promulgate additional rules  and  regulations
    46  as  may  be necessary and proper to carry out effectively the provisions
    47  of this section.
    48    § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 2803 of the public health law is amended
    49  by adding a new paragraph (m) to read as follows:
    50    (m) The  statement  regarding  patient  rights  and  responsibilities,
    51  required  pursuant to paragraph (g) of this subdivision, shall include a
    52  link to the section of the department's website  required  in  paragraph
    53  (b)  of subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred three-bb of this
    54  article.  Each health care facility's website shall prominently link  to
    55  the department's website required in paragraph (b) of subdivision two of
    56  section twenty-eight hundred three-bb of this article.  The commissioner
        A. 733--A                           3

     1  may  promulgate  rules and regulations as may be necessary and proper to
     2  carry out effectively the provisions of this paragraph.
     3    §  4. Subsection (a) of section 3217-a of the insurance law is amended
     4  by adding a new paragraph 22 to read as follows:
     5    (22)(A) an explanation of policy-based exclusions and  the  fact  that
     6  some health care facilities may have policy-based exclusions, along with
     7  a  link  to  the website required pursuant to subdivision two of section
     8  twenty-eight hundred three-bb of the public health law.
     9    (B) for the purposes  of  this  paragraph,  "policy-based  exclusions"
    10  shall  have the same meaning as in section twenty-eight hundred three-bb
    11  of the public health law.
    12    § 5. Subsection (a) of section 4324 of the insurance law is amended by
    13  adding a new paragraph 23 to read as follows:
    14    (23)(A) an explanation of policy-based exclusions and  the  fact  that
    15  some health care facilities may have policy-based exclusions, along with
    16  a  link  to  the website required pursuant to subdivision two of section
    17  twenty-eight hundred three-bb of the public health law.
    18    (B) for the purposes  of  this  paragraph,  "policy-based  exclusions"
    19  shall  have the same meaning as in section twenty-eight hundred three-bb
    20  of the public health law.
    21    § 6. Nothing in this act shall be construed  to  permit  or  authorize
    22  denials  of  care  or  discrimination in the provision of health care or
    23  health insurance. Compliance with this act does not reduce or limit  any
    24  liability  for  health  care  facilities in connection with policy-based
    25  exclusions, including violations of state or federal law.
    26    § 7. Severability clause.  If any provision of this act, or any appli-
    27  cation of any provision of this act, is held to be invalid, or ruled  to
    28  violate  or  be  inconsistent  with  any applicable federal law or regu-
    29  lation, that shall not affect the validity or effectiveness of any other
    30  provision of this act, or of any other application of any  provision  of
    31  this  act.    It  is hereby declared to be the intent of the legislature
    32  that this act would have been enacted even if  such  invalid  provisions
    33  had not been included herein.
    34    §  8. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a
    35  law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any
    36  rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act  on  its
    37  effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such
    38  effective date.