Bill Text: NY S06925 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Directs the commissioner of health to develop screening tools and procedures to be used by health care providers to detect elder abuse or maltreatment in their patients.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-03-28 - referred to health [S06925 Detail]
Download: New_York-2015-S06925-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6925 IN SENATE March 7, 2016 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SERINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Aging AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to screening for elder abuse and maltreatment The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new article 19 2 to read as follows: 3 ARTICLE 19 4 ELDER ABUSE AND MALTREATMENT SCREENING 5 Section 1900. Legislative purpose. 6 1901. Elder abuse and maltreatment screening. 7 § 1900. Legislative purpose. The correlation between elder abuse and 8 maltreatment with increased hospitalizations, admissions and mortality 9 highlights the need for increased medical interventions, particularly as 10 New York continues to implement national healthcare reform initiatives. 11 A screening tool, to be utilized by medical professionals at important 12 junctures in the lives of those sixty years of age and older, presents a 13 significant opportunity for trusted medical providers to help identify 14 high risk patients and help to ensure their continued health and safety. 15 § 1901. Elder abuse and maltreatment screening. 1. The commissioner 16 shall establish a screening tool to identify abuse in elderly individ- 17 uals. Physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners may use 18 the tool to assist in identifying abuse or maltreatment in their elderly 19 patients during the course of treatment including, but not limited to, 20 annual physical exams or as part of patient screening under the uniform 21 assessment system for long term care as established by the department. 22 2. The screening tool shall include, but not be limited to: 23 a. a uniform intervention questionnaire with a common scale that can 24 be used across health care environments and populations to assist in the 25 identification of high risk patients; 26 b. questions that can be used for both cognitively intact as well as 27 cognitively impaired individuals; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD14408-03-6