Bill Text: NY A07551 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Establishes an electronic health care decision documents registry for the purpose of collecting, maintaining, and transmitting health care decisions documents.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to codes [A07551 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A07551-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          7551

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      May 13, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. ENGLEBRIGHT, GOTTFRIED -- read once and referred
          to the Committee on Health

        AN ACT to amend the public health law, in  relation  to  establishing  a
          health care decisions document registry

          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  section
     2  2986-a to read as follows:
     3    §  2986-a. Health care decisions document registry. 1. As used in this
     4  section, the following terms shall have the following  meanings,  unless
     5  the context clearly requires otherwise:
     6    (a) "Health care decisions document" or "document" includes but is not
     7  limited  to  a  health  care  proxy  under this article, an order not to
     8  resuscitate under article twenty-nine-B  of  this  chapter,  a  document
     9  expressing  the  patient's  wishes  or  beliefs  relating  to  treatment
    10  (commonly referred to as a "living will"), a nonhospital  order  not  to
    11  resuscitate  under  article twenty-nine-CCC of this chapter or any judi-
    12  cial order designating an individual as a guardian  authorized  to  make
    13  any  health  care  decision  for a patient; including such a document in
    14  electronic or other form.
    15    (b) "Health care decisions document registry" or "registry" means  the
    16  system  established  by  the  commissioner under subdivision two of this
    17  section.
    18    2. The commissioner shall establish and maintain the health care deci-
    19  sions document  registry,  which  shall  be  an  electronic  system  for
    20  collecting,  maintaining,  and  transmitting health care decisions docu-
    21  ments, including a searchable database of information.
    22    3. The registry shall be searchable by health care providers and shall
    23  be capable of retrieving health care decisions documents included in the
    24  registry and producing and distributing digital  copies  of  such  docu-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11260-01-1
        A. 7551                             2

     1  ments.  Digital  copies of such documents produced by the registry shall
     2  be legally valid as if copied from the original document.
     3    4.  The registry shall include identifying and contact information for
     4  the patient and, as appropriate, the  patient's  health  care  agent  or
     5  other  person  who  is or is likely to be authorized to make health care
     6  decisions for the patient when the patient lacks decision-making capaci-
     7  ty, and appropriate health care professionals.
     8    5. Any patient or his or her health care agent,  surrogate,  attending
     9  practitioner, or other person acting on the patient's behalf, may submit
    10  a  copy of a patient's health care decisions document to the registry in
    11  accordance with protocols established by the commissioner.
    12    6. When a document previously  submitted  to  the  registry  has  been
    13  revoked  or  modified by the maker of the document, it shall be the duty
    14  of the individual who submitted the document to the registry to transmit
    15  to the registry notification of such revocation or modification promptly
    16  when the individual learns of the revocation or modification.
    17    7. The commissioner shall establish requirements and  a  mechanism  to
    18  provide  health  care providers access to the registry, either through a
    19  website-based system or toll-free calling system.
    20    8. The commissioner shall establish and implement protocols to  ensure
    21  that  documents  and  information  transmitted  to  and contained in the
    22  registry are maintained in a secure and confidential manner, are  acces-
    23  sible only by users designated by the commissioner, and are available in
    24  an  emergency.   Such protocols shall include a mechanism to monitor and
    25  record access to the registry.
    26    9. There shall be no fee or charge for submitting a document or infor-
    27  mation to or storing it on the  registry,  searching  the  registry,  or
    28  obtaining a copy of a document or information from the registry.
    29    10.  The  commissioner  may enter into a contract for the operation of
    30  the registry, subject to such terms and conditions as may  be  contained
    31  within such contract, with a not-for-profit organization. The contractor
    32  may subcontract as needed for the effective performance of the contract.
    33  All  such  subcontractors  and  the  terms of such subcontracts shall be
    34  subject to approval by the commissioner.
    35    11. The commissioner shall make regulations under this section.
    36    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.