Bill Text: NY S01594 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Enacts the "New York state living donor support act" to provide state reimbursement to living organ donors, who are state residents, for medical and associated expenses incurred as a result of the organ donation, when the organ donation is made to another resident of the state; requires the provision of information on transplantation to patients with severe kidney disease.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-5)
Status: (Passed) 2022-12-29 - APPROVAL MEMO.84 [S01594 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S01594-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1594 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 14, 2021 ___________ Introduced by Sens. RIVERA, BENJAMIN, GALLIVAN, SERINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health AN ACT to amend the public health law, the tax law and the social services law, in relation to support of living organ donation The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "New York state living donor support act". 3 § 2. The article heading of article 43-B of the public health law, as 4 added by chapter 589 of the laws of 1990, is amended to read as follows: 5 ORGAN[, TISSUE AND BODY PARTS] PROCUREMENT AND [STORAGE] 6 DONOR SUPPORT 7 § 3. Sections 4360 through 4369 of article 43-B of the public health 8 law are designated title 1, and a new title heading is added to read as 9 follows: 10 ORGAN, TISSUE AND BODY PARTS PROCUREMENT AND STORAGE 11 § 4. Article 43-B of the public health law is amended by adding a new 12 title 2 to read as follows: 13 TITLE 2 14 LIVING ORGAN DONATION 15 Section 4370. Definitions. 16 4371. Reimbursement of living donor expenses. 17 4372. Transplant education of patients with kidney disease or 18 end stage renal failure. 19 § 4370. Definitions. As used in this title, the following terms shall 20 have the following meanings, unless the context clearly requires other- 21 wise: 22 1. "Living donation" means the gift by an individual of an organ of 23 that individual's body to be transplanted into another individual's EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00054-02-1S. 1594 2 1 body, the gift to be executed while the donating individual is living 2 and with the intent that the donating individual will continue to live 3 after the execution of the gift. 4 2. "Living donor" means an individual who makes a living donation. 5 3. "Living donor expenses" means financial costs incurred by a living 6 donor that arise due to the act of living donation and its consequences, 7 that are subject to reimbursement under section forty-three hundred 8 seventy-one of this title. 9 4. "Living donor support program" or "program" means the living donor 10 support program established under section forty-three hundred seventy- 11 one of this title. 12 5. "Paired donation" means a living donation in which the living 13 donor's organ is incompatible with the ultimate intended recipient and 14 the living donor's organ is transplanted into another recipient, and in 15 turn another living donor makes a living donation, directly or through 16 one or more paired donations, to the ultimate recipient. 17 § 4371. Reimbursement of living donor expenses. 1. The living donor 18 support program is hereby established in the department. 19 2. (a) Subject to appropriations therefor, the program shall pay the 20 living donor expenses for living donors who are residents of the state 21 and make a living donation in which the ultimate recipient, either 22 directly or through paired donation is a resident of the state. The 23 commissioner through regulations shall establish eligible living donor 24 expenses that are eligible for reimbursement under the program which 25 shall include at a minimum: lost wages (including demonstrated lost 26 non-employment income); the economic value of sick or vacation days 27 expended; travel and lodging, child care and elder care expenses; and 28 costs of medications and care associated with the living donation 29 surgery. The total period of time related to lost wages or expended sick 30 or vacation days shall not exceed four weeks unless special circum- 31 stances are demonstrated, such as the nature of physical labor required 32 for the living donor's employment; provided that the total period shall 33 in no event exceed eight weeks. The commissioner may by regulation 34 impose a limitation on: (i) the amount of lost wages for a living donor 35 making an income in excess of an annual rate of one hundred twenty-five 36 thousand dollars; or (ii) the amount of living donor expenses above 37 fourteen thousand dollars for any single living donor; and may include 38 additional living donor expenses including reimbursement for costs of 39 care performed by relatives or family members of the living donor. 40 (b) The program shall not pay reimbursement for expenses paid or 41 required to be paid for by any third-party payer, including wages or 42 other expenses that were covered under paid medical leave by the living 43 donor's employer or that are covered by other sources of reimbursement 44 such as the federal National Living Donor Assistance Program. The 45 program shall be the payer of last resort with respect to any benefit 46 under the program. 47 (c) Living donor expenses shall be reimbursed as close in time as 48 possible to their being incurred by the donor, including by pre-payment 49 where practicable. 50 3. (a) The commissioner may contract for the administration of 51 reimbursement under the program. Factors such as cost to the state, ease 52 of use for the living donor, and ease of use for transplant center 53 hospitals shall be taken into consideration when awarding such contract. 54 (b) The commissioner shall make regulations to implement this section. 55 (c) This section shall be interpreted so as not to conflict with the 56 federal National Organ Transplant Act (42 U.S.C. 274e).S. 1594 3 1 § 4372. Transplant education of patients with kidney disease or end 2 stage renal failure. For any patient with chronic kidney disease stage 3 four or end stage renal disease, a nephrologist managing the patient's 4 treatment or, if the patient is not under the treatment of a nephrolo- 5 gist then the patient's primary care practitioner, shall consider wheth- 6 er the patient is a candidate for transplantation under applicable 7 professional and legal guidelines, and, if the patient appears to be a 8 candidate for transplantation, provide the patient with transplant 9 education materials including those prepared under section two hundred 10 seven of this chapter. 11 § 5. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 1 of section 207 of the public 12 health law, as amended by section 16 of part A of chapter 109 of the 13 laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows: 14 (d) The need for and importance of organ and tissue donation, includ- 15 ing living donation, including information about being registered as an 16 organ and tissue donor and executing documents of gift under article 17 forty-three of this chapter; and information to increase patient under- 18 standing about the medical option of transplant and its desirability. 19 In implementing this paragraph, the department shall consult with the 20 transplant council in the department. 21 § 6. Paragraph 38 of subsection (c) of section 612 of the tax law, as 22 added by chapter 565 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as follows: 23 (38) An amount of up to ten thousand dollars if a taxpayer, while 24 living, donates one or more of his or her human organs to another human 25 being for human organ transplantation. For purposes of this paragraph, 26 "human organ" means all or part of a liver, pancreas, kidney, intestine, 27 lung, or bone marrow. A subtract modification allowed under this para- 28 graph shall be claimed in the taxable year in which the human organ 29 transplantation occurs. Provided, however, that this deduction shall 30 not apply to any donation for which the taxpayer has received benefits 31 under section forty-three hundred seventy-one of the public health law. 32 § 7. The social services law is amended by adding a new section 365-o 33 to read as follows: 34 § 365-o. Provision and coverage of services for living organ donors. 35 This section applies in the case of a living donor under section forty- 36 three hundred seventy-one of the public health law who is otherwise 37 eligible for medical assistance under this article. Services for that 38 person covered under that section that would otherwise be health care 39 services under this article shall be paid for under this article and not 40 under such section, provided federal financial participation is avail- 41 able. 42 § 8. This act shall take effect on the first of April next succeeding 43 the date on which it shall have become a law; provided that, effective 44 immediately, the commissioner of health shall make regulations and take 45 other actions reasonably necessary to implement this act on that date.
