Bill Text: NY S01594 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Establishes certification procedures for the profession of nurse anesthesia; provides for the issuance of a certification to practice as a certified registered nurse anesthetist upon the filing of an application, having a license as a registered professional nurse, having the appropriate educational requirements and paying the fifty dollar initial certification fee and the triennial thirty dollar registration fee.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO HIGHER EDUCATION [S01594 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S01594-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1594

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 12, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by Sens. BAILEY, HARCKHAM, SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered
          printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on  Higher
          Education

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  education law, in relation to the profession of
          nurse anesthesia

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

     1    Section  1.  Legislative  intent.  The  legislature  hereby finds that
     2  certified registered nurse anesthetists are highly educated and  trained
     3  advanced practice nurses who hold a national professional certification,
     4  and whose competency in the professional practice of nurse anesthesia in
     5  hospitals,  free-standing  ambulatory  surgery centers, clinics, profes-
     6  sional offices and other facilities is well  known.  Nurse  anesthetists
     7  are  integral to the continued professional delivery of services in such
     8  health care facilities throughout the state.
     9    The legislature further finds  that  statutory  recognition  of  nurse
    10  anesthetists  will  further  enhance  patient  safety by codifying their
    11  professional scope of practice that is currently governed in this  state
    12  by regulations promulgated pursuant to the public health law in the case
    13  of hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers.
    14    The  legislature also finds that while nurse anesthetists are advanced
    15  practice nurses, licensed as registered professional nurses under  arti-
    16  cle  139  of  the  education  law,  no provision of this act is meant to
    17  limit, diminish or in any way impinge upon the practice of  the  profes-
    18  sion of nursing as a registered professional nurse under such article.
    19    Therefore,  the legislature hereby declares that, due to the intrinsic
    20  nature of the administration of anesthesia services, the  integral  part
    21  that  certified  registered nurse anesthetists play in the safe delivery
    22  of such services and the need to protect and enhance patient  safety  in
    23  all  health care facilities, it is in the interest of the people of this
    24  state to recognize the national professional certification of registered

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04455-01-3
        S. 1594                             2

     1  nurse anesthetists and that the existing  scope  of  practice  of  nurse
     2  anesthesia,  as  currently practiced in this state, be codified in stat-
     3  ute.
     4    §  2.    Section  6902 of the education law is amended by adding a new
     5  subdivision 4 to read as follows:
     6    4. (a) The practice of registered professional nursing by a  certified
     7  registered nurse anesthetist, certified under section sixty-nine hundred
     8  twelve  of  this  article  may include the practice of nurse anesthesia.
     9  Nurse anesthesia includes: the administration of  anesthesia  and  anes-
    10  thesia  related care to patients; preanesthetics evaluation and prepara-
    11  tion; anesthetic induction, maintenance and emergence;  post  anesthesia
    12  care;  perianesthetics  and clinical support functions; and pain manage-
    13  ment, in collaboration with a licensed physician  qualified  by  law  to
    14  determine  the  need for anesthesia services, provided such services are
    15  performed in accordance with a written practice  agreement  and  written
    16  practice protocols. The written practice agreement shall include explic-
    17  it provisions for the resolution of any disagreement between the collab-
    18  orating physician and the certified registered nurse anesthetist regard-
    19  ing  a  matter  of  anesthesia  treatment  that  is  within the scope of
    20  practice of both. To the extent  the  practice  agreement  does  not  so
    21  provide, then the collaborating physician's treatment shall prevail.
    22    (b)  Prescriptions  for  drugs,  devices  and anesthetic agents may be
    23  issued by a certified registered nurse anesthetist, under this  subdivi-
    24  sion  and  section sixty-nine hundred twelve of this article, in accord-
    25  ance with the practice agreement and practice protocols.  The  certified
    26  registered nurse anesthetist shall obtain a certificate from the depart-
    27  ment  upon  successfully  completing  a program including an appropriate
    28  pharmacology component, or its equivalent, as established by the commis-
    29  sioner's regulations, prior to prescribing under this  subdivision.  The
    30  certificate issued under section sixty-nine hundred twelve of this arti-
    31  cle  shall  state whether the certified registered nurse anesthetist has
    32  successfully completed such a program or equivalent and is authorized to
    33  prescribe under this subdivision.
    34    (c) Each practice agreement shall provide for patient  records  review
    35  by  the collaborating physician in a timely fashion but in no event less
    36  often than every three months. The names  of  the  certified  registered
    37  nurse anesthetist and the collaborating physician shall be clearly post-
    38  ed  in  the  practice setting of the certified registered nurse anesthe-
    39  tist.
    40    (d) The practice protocol shall reflect current accepted  medical  and
    41  nursing practice. The protocols shall be filed with the department with-
    42  in  ninety  days  of the commencement of the practice and may be updated
    43  periodically. The commissioner shall make regulations  establishing  the
    44  procedure  for the review of protocols and the disposition of any issues
    45  arising from such review.
    46    (e) No physician shall enter into practice agreements with  more  than
    47  four  certified registered nurse anesthetists who are not located on the
    48  same physical premises as the collaborating physician.
    49    (f) Nothing in this subdivision shall be deemed to limit  or  diminish
    50  the  practice  of the profession of nursing as a registered professional
    51  nurse under this article or any other law, rule, regulation  or  certif-
    52  ication,  nor  to deny any registered professional nurse the right to do
    53  any act or engage in any practice authorized  by  this  article  or  any
    54  other law, rule, regulation or certification.
    55    (g) The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to any activity
    56  authorized,  pursuant to statute, rule or regulation, to be performed by
        S. 1594                             3

     1  a registered professional nurse in a  hospital  as  defined  in  article
     2  twenty-eight of the public health law.
     3    § 3. The education law is amended by adding a new section 6912 to read
     4  as follows:
     5    § 6912. Certificates for nurse anesthesia practice. 1. For issuance of
     6  a  certificate  to  practice as a certified registered nurse anesthetist
     7  under subdivision four of section sixty-nine hundred two of  this  arti-
     8  cle, the applicant shall fulfill the following requirements:
     9    (a) Application: file an application with the department;
    10    (b)  License:  be  licensed  as a registered professional nurse in the
    11  state;
    12    (c) Education: (i) have satisfactorily completed educational  prepara-
    13  tion  for  provision  of  these  services in a program registered by the
    14  department or in a program accredited by a national body  recognized  by
    15  the department or determined by the department to be the equivalent; and
    16  (ii)  submit  evidence  of current certification or recertification by a
    17  national certifying body, recognized by the department;
    18    (d) Fees: pay a fee to the department of fifty dollars for an  initial
    19  certificate authorizing nurse anesthesia practice and a triennial regis-
    20  tration fee of thirty dollars.
    21    After a certified registered nurse anesthetist's initial registration,
    22  registration  under this section shall be coterminous with the certified
    23  registered nurse anesthetist's registration as a professional nurse.
    24    2. Only a person certified under this  section  shall  use  the  title
    25  "certified registered nurse anesthetist".
    26    3.  The provisions of this section shall not apply to any act or prac-
    27  tice authorized by any other law, rule, regulation or certification.
    28    4. The provisions of this section shall  not  apply  to  any  activity
    29  authorized,  pursuant to statute, rule or regulation, to be performed by
    30  a registered professional nurse in a  hospital  as  defined  in  article
    31  twenty-eight of the public health law.
    32    5.  An  individual who is authorized to practice as a certified regis-
    33  tered nurse anesthetist in a hospital under regulations of  the  depart-
    34  ment  of  health  may use the title "certified registered nurse anesthe-
    35  tist" in connection with that practice.  If such an  individual  applies
    36  for  a  certificate under this section, he or she may satisfy the educa-
    37  tion requirement of subdivision one of this section by presenting satis-
    38  factory evidence of such authority.
    39    6. (a) A registered professional nurse licensed under  section  sixty-
    40  nine  hundred  five  of  this article who has satisfactorily completed a
    41  program of educational preparation as provided  in  subdivision  one  of
    42  this  section  may,  for a period not to exceed twenty-four months imme-
    43  diately following the completion of such educational  program,  practice
    44  nurse  anesthesia  under  subdivision four of section sixty-nine hundred
    45  two of this article as a graduate nurse anesthetist in the  same  manner
    46  as a certified registered nurse anesthetist under that subdivision.
    47    (b)  A registered professional nurse licensed under section sixty-nine
    48  hundred five of this article who is duly enrolled in a program of educa-
    49  tional preparation, may practice nurse anesthesia  as  a  student  nurse
    50  anesthetist  under the supervision of an anesthesiologist or a certified
    51  registered nurse anesthetist, who is immediately available as needed.
    52    7. The commissioner is authorized to promulgate regulations to  imple-
    53  ment the provisions of this section.
    54    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.