Bill Text: NY S08525 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Enacts the Jonah Bichotte Cowan Law; relates to pre-term labor care and directs the commissioner of health to require hospitals to provide pre-term labor patients with information regarding the potential health effects of pre-term labor and pre-term delivery on an expectant mother and on her fetus.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2020-12-22 - approval memo.52 [S08525 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S08525-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8525

                    IN SENATE

                                      June 8, 2020
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  MONTGOMERY  -- read twice and ordered printed, and
          when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules

        AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to enacting the Jonah
          Bichotte Cowan law relating to pre-term labor care and  directing  the
          commissioner  of health to require hospitals to provide pre-term labor
          patients with information regarding the potential  health  effects  of
          pre-term labor and pre-term delivery on an expectant mother and on her
          fetus

          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 "Jonah Bichotte Cowan law".
     3    §  2.  The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2509-b
     4  to read as follows:
     5    § 2509-b.  Pre-term labor care. 1. When an expectant  mother  presents
     6  at  a  general hospital with concerns about being in pre-term labor, the
     7  general hospital shall:
     8    (a) determine whether the expectant mother is in pre-term labor;
     9    (b) upon making a diagnosis of pre-term  labor,  admit  the  expectant
    10  mother  to  the  general hospital or treat her in the emergency room for
    11  close observation and continuous monitoring until it is deemed medically
    12  safe for discharge from the general hospital or  stabilize  and  arrange
    13  for  an appropriate transfer of such expectant mother to another general
    14  hospital; and
    15    (c) provide the expectant mother with information concerning  pre-term
    16  labor  and  the potential health effects of pre-term labor and premature
    17  birth delivery on the mother and on her fetus  as  required  by  section
    18  twenty-eight hundred three-j of this chapter.
    19    2.  As used in this section, "general hospital" means a general hospi-
    20  tal as defined in section twenty-eight hundred one of this chapter.
    21    § 3. Subdivisions 1 and 1-a of section 2803-j  of  the  public  health
    22  law,  subdivision  1  as  amended  by chapter 66 of the laws of 2020 and
    23  subdivision 1-a as added by chapter 56 of the laws of 1996, are  amended
    24  and a new subdivision 1-f is added to read as follows:

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00398-08-0
        S. 8525                             2

     1    1. The commissioner shall require that every hospital and birth center
     2  shall  prepare in printed or photocopied form and distribute at the time
     3  of pre-booking directly to each prospective maternity patient and,  upon
     4  request,  to  the general public an informational leaflet.  Such leaflet
     5  shall  also  be  distributed to any expectant mother who presents at the
     6  hospital during pregnancy. Such leaflet shall be designed by the commis-
     7  sioner and shall contain brief definitions of maternity  related  proce-
     8  dures  and practices as specified in subdivision two of this section and
     9  such other material as deemed appropriate by the commissioner. Hospitals
    10  and birth centers may also elect to  distribute  additional  explanatory
    11  material  along  with  the maternity patients informational leaflet. The
    12  commissioner shall make the information contained in the leaflet  avail-
    13  able on the department's website.
    14    1-a. The informational leaflet shall also include:
    15    (a)  an  explanation  of  the special provisions relating to maternity
    16  care and coverage under the insurance  law  and  section  [two  thousand
    17  eight]  twenty-eight  hundred  three-n  of  this  [chapter] article, and
    18  suggest that expectant parents check their insurance  policies  for  the
    19  details of their maternity coverage; and
    20    (b)  a statement that the medical assistance program provides coverage
    21  for all income-eligible pregnant women  and  children  residing  in  the
    22  state regardless of immigration status.
    23    1-f. The informational leaflet shall also include information relating
    24  to  pre-term  labor  and  premature  birth, including but not limited to
    25  definitions and information on the risks that pre-term labor and  prema-
    26  ture birth pose to the expectant mother and fetus.
    27    §  4.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
    28  have become a law.  Effective immediately the addition, amendment and/or
    29  repeal of any rule or regulation necessary  for  the  implementation  of
    30  this  act  on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
    31  on or before such date.