Bill Text: NY A07660 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relates to the certification of dietitians and nutritionists.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 23-11)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to higher education [A07660 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A07660-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          7660

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      May 14, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. JAFFEE -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Higher Education

        AN  ACT  to amend the education law, in relation to delivering nutrition
          care through therapeutic diets

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Legislative  findings  and  declaration of purpose.   The
     2  legislature finds that the Center for  Medicaid  and  Medicare  Services
     3  (CMS) issued a new rule that permits hospitals to allow qualified dieti-
     4  tians and nutritionists to order therapeutic diets in the Federal Regis-
     5  ter  Volume  79,  Number  91  on  May 12, 2014. CMS rules are related to
     6  federal reimbursement of services. The CMS rules state  that  dietitians
     7  and nutritionists are the professionals who are best qualified to assess
     8  a patient's nutritional status and to design and implement a nutritional
     9  treatment plan in consultation with the patient's interdisciplinary care
    10  team.  In  addition, the CMS rules state that the qualified dietitian or
    11  nutritionist must be viewed as an integral member of the hospital inter-
    12  disciplinary care team,  one  who,  as  the  team's  clinical  nutrition
    13  expert,  is responsible for a patient's nutritional diagnosis and treat-
    14  ment in light of a patient's medical diagnosis.  The  CMS  rule  further
    15  states  that  all  patient  diets  are  considered  to be therapeutic in
    16  nature, regardless of the modality used to support the nutritional needs
    17  of the patient and that the term would most certainly include parenteral
    18  and enteral nutrition support. The legislature finds that CMS  issued  a
    19  similar  rule  for  long  term  care  facilities in the Federal Register
    20  Volume 81, Number 192 on October 4, 2016. Since CMS rules emphasize that
    21  the state law governs the scope of practice, the legislature finds  that
    22  the  current  scope  of  practice for certified dietitians and certified
    23  nutritionists does not specifically allow for the ordering of  therapeu-
    24  tic  diets.  The legislature intends to provide language which is needed
    25  to allow the state of New York to deliver nutrition care via therapeutic

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11593-01-9
        A. 7660                             2

     1  diets through recognized dietetic  and  nutrition  professionals,  in  a
     2  manner deemed as being appropriate and efficient.
     3    §  2.  Section  8001  of  the education law is amended by adding a new
     4  subdivision 4 to read as follows:
     5    4. Notwithstanding any other provision  of  law  to  the  contrary,  a
     6  certified  dietitian  or  certified  nutritionist  may prescribe, order,
     7  write, review, evaluate, monitor and manage therapeutic diets, including
     8  enteral and parenteral nutrition,  in  hospitals,  including  diagnostic
     9  centers, treatment centers, hospital-based outpatient departments, resi-
    10  dential health care facilities or nursing homes or any other facility as
    11  defined  in  section  twenty-eight hundred one of the public health law,
    12  when competency is determined by the medical director or governing  body
    13  of such facility.
    14    § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    15  it  shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
    16  ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
    17  tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be  made  and
    18  completed on or before such effective date.