State legislative activity 2024

A.8862 (Paulin)/S.7840 (Rivera)

School-based health center carve out – would permanently carve school-based health centers out of Medicaid managed care.

Passed both houses:

6.7.24

A.1633-B (Simon)/S.8843-A (Rivera)

Hospital closures – would increase public engagement and approval requirements for the closure of an entire general hospital or a unit of a hospital providing emergency, maternity, mental health or substance use services, including specialty care or any other licensed service.

Passed both houses:

6.7.24

A.9018 (Bronson)/S.8715 (Brouk)

Creative art therapist billing – would allow creative art therapists to bill Medicaid directly.

Passed both houses:

6.6.24

A.9204 (Paulin)/S.9049 (Scarcella-Spanton)

Hospital-home care-physician collaboration program – would require public notification and opportunity to comment when an application is made to the DOH for a regulatory waiver.

Passed both houses:

6.6.24

A.9235-A (Paulin)/S.8966-A (Rivera)

Certificates of qualification for clinical laboratories and blood banks and work standards for cytotechnologists – would set specific standards that meet federal requirements to exempt New York state from federal clinical laboratory improvement amendments.

Passed both houses:

6.6.24

A.8378-A (Paulin)/S.9038-A (May)

PA standards – would modernize physician assistant practice standards, allowing a physician assistant to prescribe and order a non-patient specific regimen to a registered professional nurse.

Passed both houses:

6.6.24

A.8560-A (Burdick)/S.8666-A (Mannion)

Establishing patient disability status – would require hospitals to ask patients if they have a disability that requires accommodation under The Americans with Disabilities Act.

Passed both houses:

6.6.24

A.8247-C (Paulin)/S.8470-A (Rivera)

Intravenous contrast media – would allow radiologic technologists to administer intravenous contrast media under the direct supervision of a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant.

Passed both houses:

6.6.24

A.8168 (Paulin)/S.7690 (Webb)

Remote ultrasound and fetal non-stress coverage – would provide Medicaid coverage for remote ultrasound scans and remote fetal non-stress tests.

Passed both houses:

6.6.24

A.7860 (Silliti)/S.7846 (Webb)

Copies of patient information – would require records maintained by healthcare facilities and practitioners licensed by DOH to allow a qualified person to request a physical copy of any patient information.

Passed both houses:

6.6.24

A.7516-A (Fall)/S.9283 (Kavanagh)

Maternity patient leaflet on congenital heart defect births – would require maternity informational leaflets to include information related to congenital heart defect births, including treatment requirements.

Passed both houses:

6.6.24

A.5984-B (McDonald)/S.7177-B (Fernandez)

ER practitioner drug dispensing – would permit a three-day supply of controlled substances to be dispensed by a practitioner in a hospital without a full-time pharmacy to a patient in a hospital emergency room for use off the premises.

Passed both houses:

6.6.24

A.3703 (Epstein)/S.2984 (Kavanagh)

Nursing home closures – would require nursing homes in New York state to provide written notice of anticipated closure to the local governing agency/body and provide them the opportunity to respond and make recommendations.

Passed both houses:

6.6.24

A.7725 (Paulin)/S.2124 (Rivera)

Physician assistants under Medicaid managed care – would allow physician assistants to serve as primary care practitioners for purposes of Medicaid managed care plans.

Passed both houses:

6.5.24

A.901-A (McDonald)/S.1267-A (Breslin)

Step therapy protocol – would require a utilization review agent to follow certain rules when establishing a step therapy protocol.

Passed both houses:

6.5.24

A.9232-B (Weinstein)/S.8485-B (Hoylman-Sigal)

Wrongful death – would substantially expand the types of damages recoverable in a wrongful death suit.

Passed both houses:

6.5.24

A.5370 (Paulin)/S.5732 (Skoufis)

HERDS – would create in statute the health emergency response data system and require public posting of information gathered during public health emergencies.

Passed both houses:

6.5.24

A.4581 (Paulin)/S.1520 (Serrano)

Patient health and medical information – would make various laws on consumers’ access to their health and medical records consistent and facilitate the transfer of records among their healthcare professionals.

Passed both houses:

6.5.24

A.7872-A (Paulin)/S.8632-A (Hoylman-Sigal)

Healthcare proxy – would make information about appointing a healthcare agent available to patients who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness or condition.

Passed both houses:

6.4.24

A.9718-B (Paulin)/S.9067-A (Krueger)

Pressure ulcer prevention program – would require hospitals and residential healthcare facilities to develop and implement pressure ulcer prevention programs while also requiring DOH to issue a report on reimbursement incentives to reduce the incidence of pressure ulcers.

Passed both houses:

6.4.24

A.9102-C (Kelles)/S.8486-C (Hinchey)

Medicaid reimbursement for TIP and TAD – would authorize Medicaid reimbursement for treatment in place and transportation to alternative care destinations by emergency medical services.

Passed both houses:

6.3.24

A.7369 (McDonald)/S.2867 (Rivera)

TBI/NHTD waiver programs carve out – would prevent waivered services provided to persons suffering from traumatic brain injuries or qualifying for nursing home diversion and transition services from being provided to Medicaid recipients through managed care programs.

Passed both houses:

6.3.24

A.9866 (Peoples-Stokes)/S.9550 (Skoufis)

Influenza virus vaccination at general hospitals – would lower the age requirement for hospitals in New York to offer patients the influenza vaccine from 65 to 50 years old.

Passed both houses:

6.3.24

A.2188 (Dinowitz)/S.3498 (Sanders)

Nursing home quality postings – would require nursing home facilities to display prominently the most recent star ratings for health inspections, staffing and quality measures.

Passed both houses:

6.3.24

A.1696-C (Hunter)/S.2465-C (Persaud)

Breast cancer screening coverage – would require certain

insurance policies to allow patients additional screenings for breast cancer when the provider deems such screening is necessary.

Passed both houses:

6.3.24

A.7570 (Paulin)/S.8650 (Cleare)

Medicare savings program application – would amend the Social Service Law to allow low-income subsidy data transmitted from the Social Security Administration to local social services departments to be treated as an application for the Medicare savings program without requiring submission of another application.

Passed both houses:

5.30.24

A.9729 (McDonald)/S.9186 (Stavisky)

Shared pharmacy services – would amend the Education Law to allow shared pharmacy services in New York state.

Passed both houses:

5.30.24

A.8275-A (Berger)/S.2739-A (Comrie)

Organ and tissue donor registration – would require distributing information on how to register as an organ and tissue donor in the pre-licensing course to operate a motor vehicle.

Passed both houses:

5.30.24

A.6425-A (O’Donnell)/S.7114-A (Rivera)

Epinephrine auto-injectors coverage – would require insurance coverage for epinephrine auto-injectors and set an annual cost-sharing cap.

Passed both houses:

5.30.24

A.4138-A (McMahon)/S.593-A (Ortt)

Down syndrome diagnosis awareness – would require healthcare practitioners to provide up-to-date and evidence-based information on Down syndrome to pregnant people and parents of infants who test positive for Down syndrome in a written or alternative format when a Down syndrome screening test has been ordered.

Passed both houses:

5.30.24

A.9968 (Woerner)/S.9153 (Breslin)

Health savings account pilot program – would amend the Insurance Law to allow for the continuation of a Managed Care Savings Account for certain municipalities, to allow HMOs to offer group high deductible health plans, in conjunction with a health savings account or a health reimbursement account. The provisions of this bill would sunset on Dec. 31, 2027.

Passed both houses:

5.30.24

A.7184-A (Paulin)/S.3283-A (Rivera)

Family Health Care Decisions Act – would make technical amendments under the Family Health Care Decisions Act and non-hospital orders not to resuscitate.

Passed both houses:

5.30.24

A.5789-A (Woerner)/S.6226-A (Hinchey)

EMS blood transfusion services – would allow ambulance services and advanced life support first response services to store and distribute blood and initiate and administer blood transfusions.

Passed both houses:

5.29.24

A.9438 (Paulin)/S.8373-A (Rivera)

Medical debt definition – clarifies medical debt does not include debt charged to a credit card unless the credit card is issued under a plan offered specifically for the payment of healthcare services.

Passed both houses:

5.20.24

A.7214 (McDonald)/S.3472 (Rivera)

Physician profile reporting requirements – increases physician reporting requirements for healthcare plan participation and mandates that DOH add additional details to physician profiles and make them public.

Passed both houses:

5.16.24

A.7079 (Gunther)/S.8456 (Rivera)

Donate Life registry – allows patients to register in the Donate Life registry through their electronic health records and requires vendors to integrate this component at no additional costs to providers.

Passed both houses:

5.14.24

Chapter 90 of the Laws of 2024

Dispensing of self-administered hormonal contraceptives chapter amendment – a chapter amendment to chapter 128 of the laws of 2023, allowing a physician or certified nurse practitioner to prescribe and order non-patient specific orders to a pharmacist for the dispensing of self-administered hormonal contraceptives.

Signed into law:

2.13.24

Chapter 67 of the Laws of 2024

Emergency evacuation plan for high-rise buildings chapter amendment – a chapter amendment to chapter 745 of the laws of 2023, requiring high-rise buildings to establish procedures for evacuating individuals with disabilities.

Signed into law:

2.7.24

Chapter 29 of the Laws of 2024

Biomarker testing coverage chapter amendment – a chapter amendment to chapter 754 of the laws of 2023, requiring commercial health insurers and Medicaid to cover biomarker testing for certain purposes.

Signed into law:

2.7.24

Chapter 28 of the Laws of 2024

Step therapy chapter amendment – a chapter amendment to chapter 735 of the laws of 2023, requiring a written procedure for the notice of an adverse step therapy determination.

Signed into law:

2.7.24

Chapter 27 of the Laws of 2024

Residential healthcare facility pilot program chapter amendment – a chapter amendment to chapter 747 of the laws of 2023, requiring the establishment of a four-year demonstration project to reduce the use of temporary staffing agencies in residential healthcare facilities, including a joint labor-management nursing home staffing workgroup.

Signed into law:

2.7.24

Chapter 4 of the Laws of 2024

Hospital price reporting chapter amendment – a chapter amendment to chapter 703 of the laws of 2023 requiring the Department of Civil Service to annually develop and make publicly available a New York state health benefit plan hospital pricing report.

Signed into law:

1.26.24

Chapter 18 of the Laws of 2024

Community doula directory chapter amendment – a chapter amendment to chapter 607 of the laws of 2023, requiring the establishment of the New York State Community Doula Directory and requires the development of specific admittance criteria for doulas providing services to Medicaid patients.

Signed into Law:

1.26.24

A.733-A (Rozic)/S.1003-A (Hinchey)

Hospital policy-based exclusions – requires DOH to collect from hospitals a list of its policy-based exclusions on an annual basis and publish on its website a current list of all healthcare facilities with policy-based exclusions and the policy-based exclusions for each facility.

Passed both houses:

1.24.24

A.2870-B (Solages)/S.2039-B (Brouk)

Maternal health depression screenings – requires the commissioner of health in consultation with relevant stakeholders to develop and publish guidance and standards for incorporation of maternal depression screenings into routine perinatal and postpartum care.

Passed both houses:

1.23.24

A.8207-A (Clark)/S.7702-A (Webb)

Maternal health care workgroup – requires DOH to convene a maternal healthcare and birthing standards workgroup hospitals, obstetricians, midwives, doulas, maternal healthcare provider organizations, mental healthcare provider organizations to study, evaluate and make recommendations related to the development of maternal health care and birthing standards.

Passed both houses:

1.23.24

A.6168-A (Solages)/S.5992-A (Persaud)

Doula access for expecting and new mothers – prohibits healthcare facilities from denying individuals access to their designated doula.

Passed both houses:

1.23.24

A.7606 (Solages)/ S.5991-A (Brouk)

Doula admittance in operating rooms – requires healthcare facilities to allow doulas to be present in the operating room while a cesarean section is being performed if the has no other support person available to them in the operating room.

Passed both houses:

1.23.24

A.2656 (Walker)/ S.201 (Cleare)

Health insurance enrollment for pregnant individuals – prohibits health plans from imposing a fee or other penalty for special enrollment of the pregnant individual.

Passed both houses:

1.22.24

A.5576 (Sillitti)/S.3610 (Webb)

Information for maternity patients – expands the information that hospitals and birth centers must provide to prospective maternity patients to include information related to whether the facility has specified quality and safety protocols in place and information related to the availability of certain services related to stillbirths.

Passed both houses:

1.22.24