Bill Text: NY S03486 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 18-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-27 - REFERRED TO HEALTH [S03486 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-S03486-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          3486

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 27, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  HINCHEY,  ADDABBO,  BROUK,  FERNANDEZ,  GONZALEZ,
          GOUNARDES, HARCKHAM, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, JACKSON, KAVANAGH,  KRUEGER,  LIU,
          MAY, MYRIE, RIVERA, SALAZAR, SEPULVEDA, WEBB -- read twice and ordered
          printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health

        AN ACT to amend the public health law and the insurance law, in relation
          to  providing information to patients and the public on hospital rule-
          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.
    19    § 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section  2803-bb
    20  to read as follows:
    21    §  2803-bb.  Hospital  rule-based  exclusions.    1.  As  used in this
    22  section, "hospital rule-based exclusions" means any criteria, rules,  or

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04973-02-5
        S. 3486                             2

     1  policies,  whether  written  or  unwritten, formally adopted or drafted,
     2  endorsed by the general hospital or followed from  an  external  source,
     3  that  restrict  a general hospital from providing types of care that the
     4  general  hospital  is licensed to provide or that restrict the provision
     5  of care to categories of patients on the  basis  of  any  characteristic
     6  protected under section two hundred ninety-six of the executive law that
     7  the  general  hospital  is  licensed  to provide.   "Hospital rule-based
     8  exclusions" shall include, but  not  be  limited  to,  objections  under
     9  section  twenty-nine  hundred eighty-four or twenty-nine hundred ninety-
    10  four-n of this chapter.   "Hospital  rule-based  exclusions"  shall  not
    11  include  restrictions based on lack of equipment, available bed space in
    12  the facility, or insurance denial.
    13    2. (a) The commissioner shall collect from  each  general  hospital  a
    14  list  of  its  hospital  rule-based exclusions on an annual basis.  Each
    15  general hospital shall furnish a list of hospital rule-based  exclusions
    16  to the department, immediately upon request.
    17    (b)  The  commissioner  shall  publish  on  the department's website a
    18  current list of all of the general hospitals  with  hospital  rule-based
    19  exclusions  and  the  hospital  rule-based  exclusions  for each general
    20  hospital not later than six months after  the  effective  date  of  this
    21  section. The commissioner shall update this list on an annual basis. The
    22  commissioner,  in  consultation  with  experts  in  health  care access,
    23  patient advocacy, types of health care that are frequently inaccessible,
    24  and hospital  administration  shall  promulgate  rules  and  regulations
    25  creating standardized language for this list to ensure that it is readi-
    26  ly  understandable to patients, prospective patients, and members of the
    27  public.
    28    (c) Within one year of the effective date of this  section  and  every
    29  five  years  thereafter,  the  commissioner shall submit a report to the
    30  temporary president of the  senate  and  the  speaker  of  the  assembly
    31  regarding  hospital rule-based exclusions in the state and the impact of
    32  such hospital rule-based exclusions on patients' ability to access qual-
    33  ity, comprehensive, affordable care near their  residences  and  whether
    34  and  how access to care varies by community, as well as by race, gender,
    35  ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, and
    36  socioeconomic status, across the state. The report shall be made public-
    37  ly available on the department's website.
    38    (d) The commissioner may promulgate rules and regulations  as  may  be
    39  necessary  and  proper  to  carry out effectively the provisions of this
    40  section.
    41    § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 2803 of the public health law is amended
    42  by adding a new paragraph (m) to read as follows:
    43    (m) The  statement  regarding  patient  rights  and  responsibilities,
    44  required pursuant to paragraph (g) of this subdivision, shall include an
    45  explanation  of hospital rule-based exclusions and a link to the section
    46  of the department's website required in paragraph (b) of subdivision two
    47  of section twenty-eight hundred three-bb of this article.  Each  general
    48  hospital's  website  shall  prominently link to the department's website
    49  required in paragraph (b) of subdivision  two  of  section  twenty-eight
    50  hundred three-bb of this article.  The commissioner may promulgate rules
    51  and  regulations as may be necessary and proper to carry out effectively
    52  the provisions of this paragraph.
    53    § 4. Subsection (a) of section 3217-a of the insurance law is  amended
    54  by adding a new paragraph 22 to read as follows:
    55    (22)(A)  an explanation of hospital rule-based exclusions and the fact
    56  that some general hospitals may  have  hospital  rule-based  exclusions,
        S. 3486                             3

     1  along with a link to the website required pursuant to subdivision two of
     2  section twenty-eight hundred three-bb of the public health law.
     3    (B)  for  the  purposes of this paragraph, "hospital rule-based exclu-
     4  sions" shall have the same meaning as in  section  twenty-eight  hundred
     5  three-bb of the public health law.
     6    § 5. Subsection (a) of section 4324 of the insurance law is amended by
     7  adding a new paragraph 23 to read as follows:
     8    (23)(A)  an explanation of hospital rule-based exclusions and the fact
     9  that some general hospitals may  have  hospital  rule-based  exclusions,
    10  along with a link to the website required pursuant to subdivision two of
    11  section twenty-eight hundred three-bb of the public health law.
    12    (B)  for  the  purposes of this paragraph, "hospital rule-based exclu-
    13  sions" shall have the same meaning as in  section  twenty-eight  hundred
    14  three-bb of the public health law.
    15    § 6. Subdivision 1 of section 4408 of the public health law is amended
    16  by adding a new paragraph (w) to read as follows:
    17    (w)  (i) An explanation of hospital rule-based exclusions and the fact
    18  that some general hospitals may  have  hospital  rule-based  exclusions,
    19  along with a link to the website required pursuant to subdivision two of
    20  section twenty-eight hundred three-bb of this chapter.
    21    (ii)  For  the purposes of this paragraph, "hospital rule-based exclu-
    22  sions" shall have the same meaning as in  section  twenty-eight  hundred
    23  three-bb of this chapter.
    24    §  7.  Nothing  in  this act shall be construed to permit or authorize
    25  denials of care or discrimination in the provision  of  health  care  or
    26  health  insurance. Compliance with this act does not reduce or limit any
    27  liability for general  hospitals in connection with hospital  rule-based
    28  exclusions, including violations of state or federal law.
    29    § 8. Severability clause.  If any provision of this act, or any appli-
    30  cation  of any provision of this act, is held to be invalid, or ruled to
    31  violate or be inconsistent with any  applicable  federal  law  or  regu-
    32  lation, that shall not affect the validity or effectiveness of any other
    33  provision  of  this act, or of any other application of any provision of
    34  this act.  It is hereby declared to be the  intent  of  the  legislature
    35  that  this  act  would have been enacted even if such invalid provisions
    36  had not been included herein.
    37    § 9. This act shall take effect eighteen months after  it  shall  have
    38  become  a  law.  Effective  immediately,  the addition, amendment and/or
    39  repeal of any rule or regulation necessary  for  the  implementation  of
    40  this  act  on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
    41  on or before such effective date.