IHA New York State End of Session Update

As the 2024 Legislative Session came to a close, the IHA advocacy team has been engaged to advance its priority bills and work to amend or stop bills that would be harmful to its members.

We can report that the Senate completed its work Friday evening at about 8:30. The Assembly continued working through the night Friday and adjourned shortly after 7:00 AM Saturday.

IHA worked hard to advance bills to ease the difficulties related to workforce shortages in Upstate. Among our top priorities was a bill to authorize temporary practice of out of state licensed RNs, LPNs and Physicians while their licensure applications were pending before the State Education Department. This bill was the subject of intense negotiations, but in the end did not make to the floor for a vote. IHA will continue its work on this bill in the off session.

Among the bills that have passed both houses are the following:

A 8247-C  Relates to the supervision of intravenous administration of contrast media by a radiographer.

This bill would amend the public health law to permit certified nurse practitioners and physician assistants to supervise radiologic technologists administering intravenous contrast media.

S 2124  Allows physician assistants to serve as primary care practitioners for purposes of Medicaid managed care plans.

This bill would amend the social services law as it relates to physician assistants to include physician assistant in the definition of primary care practitioners for Medicaid purposes.

S 9038-A  Modifies physician assistant standards in the state of New York.

In the fifty years since New York State established the profession and practice of physician assistants, the enabling statutory language has remained largely stagnant while the health care delivery system has changed considerably. By modernizing practice guidelines for PAs, this bill will increase the number of providers available to treat patients, expanding access to quality care across the state.

This bill would modernize physician assistant practice by amend the Education Law to allow physicians to supervise no more than six physician assistants in private practice at one time.

It would also authorize physician assistants to prescribe and order a non-patient specific regimen to a registered professional nurse and to allow physician assistants to issue inpatient medical orders for durable medical equipment.

Finally, the bill amends the education law by striking “doctor’s” and replacing with “prescriber’s” name for prescription records.

A 5370  Relates to creating the health emergency response data system.

This bill is designed to create in statute the Health Emergency Response Data System (HERDS) and bring transparency to information gathered during public health emergencies, including communicable disease outbreaks like COVID-19, by requiring the Department of Health to share aggregate data from HERDS reports with the entities reporting and the public.

S 8843-A Requires public notice and public engagement when a general hospital seeks to close entirely or a unit that provides maternity, mental health or substance use care.

The bill dubbed the “Local Input in Community Healthcare Act” would amend the Public Health Law (PHL) to set forth the process for the closure of a general hospital. Providing that hospitals must provide written notification of proposed closure of a general hospital to the Department of Health (DOH) no later than 270 days before the proposed closure date, and allows hospitals to confer with DOH prior to giving written notice.  The closure application will require review from the Public Health and Health Planning Council (PHHPC), which includes the health equity impact assessment. The application would be submitted at least 210 days before the proposed closure. No cessation, transfer, pause, or limitation of service may be carried out without prior written approval by the Commissioner of Health (COH).

A 9232-B Provides for the types of damages that may be awarded to the persons for whose benefit an action for wrongful death is brought.

This bill would permit surviving close family members of wrongful death victims to recover compensation for grief and anguish caused by the decedent’s death. This is the third time this bill has passed both houses in as many years.

The IHA Advocacy Team continues its review of the more than 800 bills that have passed both houses this session. We will provide you with an update in the coming days.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me or Kevin Kerwin.