Bill Text: NY A01309 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Authorizes collaborative programs for community paramedicine services as part of the hospital-home care-physician collaboration program.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-2)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-09 - referred to health [A01309 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-A01309-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1309 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 9, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, LUPARDO, WOERNER, STECK, TAGUE, SAYEGH, BARCLAY, BUTTENSCHON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to authorizing colla- borative programs for community paramedicine services The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 2805-x of the public health law, as added by 2 section 48 of part B of chapter 57 of the laws of 2015 and paragraph (d) 3 of subdivision 4 as added by chapter 697 of the laws of 2023, is amended 4 to read as follows: 5 § 2805-x. Hospital-home care-physician collaboration program. 1. The 6 purpose of this section shall be to facilitate innovation in hospital, 7 home care agency and physician collaboration in meeting the community's 8 health care needs. It shall provide a framework to support voluntary 9 initiatives in collaboration to improve patient care access and manage- 10 ment, patient health outcomes, cost-effectiveness in the use of health 11 care services and community population health. Such collaborative hospi- 12 tal-home care-physician initiatives may also include payors, skilled 13 nursing facilities, emergency medical services and other interdiscipli- 14 nary providers, practitioners and service entities as part of such 15 hospital-home care-physician collaborative provided, however, that in 16 the case of collaborative community paramedicine as set forth in this 17 section and article thirty of this chapter, the collaborative shall 18 minimally comprise hospital, home care, physician, and emergency medical 19 services partners. 20 2. For purposes of this section: 21 (a) "Hospital" shall include a general hospital as defined in this 22 article or other inpatient facility for rehabilitation or specialty care 23 within the definition of hospital in this article. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03867-01-5A. 1309 2 1 (b) "Home care agency" shall mean a certified home health agency, long 2 term home health care program or licensed home care services agency as 3 defined in article thirty-six of this chapter. 4 (c) "Payor" shall mean a health plan approved pursuant to article 5 forty-four of this chapter, or article thirty-two or forty-three of the 6 insurance law. 7 (d) "Practitioner" shall mean any of the health, mental health or 8 health related professions licensed pursuant to title eight of the 9 education law. 10 (e) "Emergency medical services" (EMS) shall mean the services of an 11 ambulance service or an advanced life support first response service 12 certified under article thirty of this chapter staffed by emergency 13 medical technicians or advanced emergency medical technicians to provide 14 basic or advanced life support and, for the purposes of the community 15 paramedicine collaboration model set forth in subdivision four of this 16 section, also to provide such services pursuant to such models in 17 circumstances other than the initial emergency medical care and trans- 18 portation of sick and injured persons. 19 3. The commissioner is authorized to provide financing including, but 20 not limited to, grants or positive adjustments in medical assistance 21 rates or premium payments, to the extent of funds available and allo- 22 cated or appropriated therefor, including funds provided to the state 23 through federal waivers, funds made available through state appropri- 24 ations and/or funding through section twenty-eight hundred seven-v of 25 this article, as well as waivers of regulations under title ten of the 26 New York codes, rules and regulations, to support the voluntary initi- 27 atives and objectives of this section. Nothing in this section shall be 28 construed to limit, or to imply the need for state approval of, collabo- 29 rative initiatives enumerated in this section which are otherwise 30 permissible under law or regulation, provided however that the approval 31 of the commissioner shall be required for either state funding or regu- 32 latory waivers as provided for under this section. 33 4. Hospital-home care-physician collaborative initiatives under this 34 section may include, but shall not be limited to: 35 (a) Hospital-home care-physician integration initiatives, including 36 but not limited to: 37 (i) transitions in care initiatives to help effectively transition 38 patients to post-acute care at home, coordinate follow-up care and 39 address issues critical to care plan success and readmission avoidance; 40 (ii) clinical pathways for specified conditions, guiding patients' 41 progress and outcome goals, as well as effective health services use; 42 (iii) application of telehealth/telemedicine services in monitoring 43 and managing patient conditions, and promoting self-care/management, 44 improved outcomes and effective services use; 45 (iv) facilitation of physician house calls to homebound patients 46 and/or to patients for whom such home visits are determined necessary 47 and effective for patient care management; 48 (v) additional models for prevention of avoidable hospital readmis- 49 sions and emergency room visits; 50 (vi) health home development; 51 (vii) development and demonstration of new models of integrated or 52 collaborative care and care management not otherwise achievable through 53 existing models; [and] 54 (viii) bundled payment demonstrations for hospital-to-post-acute-care 55 for specified conditions or categories of conditions, in particular, 56 conditions predisposed to high prevalence of readmission, includingA. 1309 3 1 those currently subject to federal/state penalty, and other discharges 2 with extensive post-acute needs; and 3 (ix) models of community paramedicine, under which hospitals, emergen- 4 cy medical services who utilize employed or volunteer emergency medical 5 technicians or advanced emergency medical technicians, physicians and 6 home care agencies, in joint partnership, may develop and implement a 7 plan for the collaborative provision of services in community settings. 8 In addition to emergency services provided under article thirty of this 9 chapter, models of community paramedicine may include collaborative 10 services to at-risk individuals living in the community to prevent emer- 11 gencies, avoidable emergency room need, avoidable transport and poten- 12 tially avoidable hospital admissions and readmissions; community param- 13 edicine services to individuals with behavioral health conditions, or 14 developmental or intellectual disabilities, shall further include the 15 collaboration of appropriate providers of behavioral health services 16 licensed or certified under the mental hygiene law; 17 (b) Recruitment, training and retention of hospital/home care direct 18 care staff and physicians, in geographic or clinical areas of demon- 19 strated need. Such initiatives may include, but are not limited to, the 20 following activities: 21 (i) outreach and public education about the need and value of service 22 in health occupations; 23 (ii) training/continuing education and regulatory facilitation for 24 cross-training to maximize flexibility in the utilization of staff, 25 including: 26 (A) training of hospital nurses in home care; 27 (B) dual certified nurse aide/home health aide certification; [and] 28 (C) dual personal care aide/HHA certification; and 29 (D) orientation and/or collaborative training of EMS, hospital, home 30 care, physician and, as necessary, other participating provider staff in 31 community paramedicine; 32 (iii) salary/benefit enhancement; 33 (iv) career ladder development; and 34 (v) other incentives to practice in shortage areas; and 35 (c) Hospital - home care - physician collaboratives for the care and 36 management of special needs, high-risk and high-cost patients, including 37 but not limited to best practices, and training and education of direct 38 care practitioners and service employees. 39 (d) Collaborative programs to address disparities in health care 40 access or treatment, and/or conditions of higher prevalence, in certain 41 populations, where such collaborative programs could provide and manage 42 services in a more effective, person-centered and cost-efficient manner 43 for reduction or elimination of such disparities. 44 (i) Such programs may target one or more disparate conditions, or 45 areas of under-service, evidenced in defined populations, including but 46 not be limited to: 47 (A) cardiovascular disease; 48 (B) hypertension; 49 (C) diabetes; 50 (D) chronic kidney disease; 51 (E) obesity; 52 (F) asthma; 53 (G) sickle cell disease; 54 (H) sepsis; 55 (I) lupus; 56 (J) breast, lung, prostate and colorectal cancers;A. 1309 4 1 (K) geographic shortage of primary care, prenatal/obstetric care, 2 specialty medical care, home health care, or culturally and linguis- 3 tically compatible care; 4 (L) alcohol, tobacco, or substance abuse; 5 (M) post-traumatic stress disorder and other conditions more prevalent 6 among veterans of the United States military services; 7 (N) attracting members of minority populations to the field and prac- 8 tice of medicine; and 9 (O) such other areas approved by the commissioner. 10 (ii) Collaborative hospital-home care-physician, and as applicable 11 additional partner, models may include under such disparities programs: 12 (A) service planning and design; 13 (B) recruitment of specialty personnel and/or specialty training of 14 professionals or other direct care personnel (including physicians, home 15 care and hospital staffs), patients and informal caregivers; 16 (C) continuing medical education and clinical training for physicians, 17 follow-up evaluations, and supporting educational materials; 18 (D) use of evidenced-based approaches and/or best practices to treat- 19 ment; 20 (E) reimbursement of uncovered services; 21 (F) bundled or other integrated payment methods to support the neces- 22 sary, coordinated and cost-effective services; 23 (G) regulatory waivers to facilitate flexibility in provider collab- 24 oration and person-centered care; 25 (H) patient/family peer support and education; 26 (I) data collection, research and evaluation of efficacy; and/or 27 (J) other components or innovations satisfactory to the commissioner. 28 (iii) Nothing contained in this paragraph shall prevent a physician, 29 physicians group, home care agency, or hospital from individually apply- 30 ing for said grant. 31 (iv) The commissioner shall consult with physicians, home care agen- 32 cies, hospitals, consumers, statewide associations representative of 33 such participants, and other experts in health care disparities, in 34 developing an application process for grant funding or rate adjustment, 35 and for request of state regulatory waivers, to facilitate implementa- 36 tion of disparities programs under this paragraph. 37 5. Hospitals and home care agencies which are provided financing or 38 waivers pursuant to this section shall report to the commissioner on the 39 patient, service and cost experiences pursuant to this section, includ- 40 ing the extent to which the project goals are achieved. The commissioner 41 shall compile and make such reports available on the department's 42 website. 43 § 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 3001-a 44 to read as follows: 45 § 3001-a. Community paramedicine services. Notwithstanding any incon- 46 sistent provision of this article, an emergency medical technician or 47 advanced emergency medical technician in course of work as an employee 48 or volunteer of an ambulance service or an advanced life support first 49 response service certified under this article to provide emergency 50 medical services may also participate in models of community paramedi- 51 cine pursuant to section twenty-eight hundred five-x of this chapter. 52 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
