Bill Text: NY S08843 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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

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Bill Title: 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.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-1)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-06-04 - referred to ways and means [S08843 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S08843-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8843

                    IN SENATE

                                     March 20, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  RIVERA, KAVANAGH, GONZALEZ, MYRIE, HINCHEY, WEBB,
          KRUEGER -- read twice and ordered printed,  and  when  printed  to  be
          committed to the Committee on Health

        AN  ACT  to amend the public health law, in relation to providing 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  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 "local input in community healthcare act".
     3    § 2.  Section 2801-g of the public health law, as added by chapter 541
     4  of  the  laws  of 2010, subdivision 4 as added by section 3 of part E of
     5  chapter 57 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
     6    § 2801-g. Community [forum] notice and engagement on hospital closure.
     7  1. Written notification of a proposed closure of a general  hospital  or
     8  unit  of  a  general hospital must be provided to the department and all
     9  parties listed in subdivision seven of this section no  later  than  two
    10  hundred  seventy  days  prior  to the proposed closure date.  As used in
    11  this section, "unit" means a portion of a general hospital  that  offers
    12  emergency,  maternity,  and  mental  health  or  substance use services.
    13  "Unit" shall also mean any  other  hospital  service  or  health-related
    14  service  of  a  hospital,  including  specialty  care  services,  if the
    15  proposed closure will result in the reduction or unavailability of  such
    16  services in the hospital's service area or county where it is located.
    17    2.  A  general  hospital  that seeks to close entirely or close one or
    18  more units shall submit an application that requires review and approval
    19  by the public health and health planning council, or any successor enti-
    20  ty. The application for the closure shall include a health equity impact
    21  assessment, as defined by section twenty-eight  hundred  two-b  of  this
    22  article, and a proposed closure plan. The application shall be submitted
    23  at least two hundred ten days before the proposed closure. No cessation,
    24  pause,  transfer,  or  limitation  of service may be carried out without
    25  prior written approval by the commissioner. As  used  in  this  section,

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD14019-09-4
        S. 8843                             2

     1  "transfer  of  services" shall include conversion of services from inpa-
     2  tient to outpatient services, the moving of services  to  other  facili-
     3  ties,  or the transfer of personnel that would constitute a reduction or
     4  unavailability of services.
     5    3.  No later than [thirty] one hundred fifty days [after] prior to the
     6  proposed closure of a general hospital or a unit of a general  hospital,
     7  the  commissioner shall hold a public community forum for the purpose of
     8  obtaining public input concerning the anticipated impact of the  general
     9  hospital's  or  general hospital unit's closure on access to health care
    10  services by members of the  surrounding  community,  including  but  not
    11  limited to recipients of medical assistance for needy persons, the unin-
    12  sured, and medically underserved populations as defined in paragraph (d)
    13  of  subdivision  one  of  section  twenty-eight  hundred  two-b  of this
    14  article, and  options  and  proposals  to  ameliorate  such  anticipated
    15  impact.  The  commissioner  shall  afford community members, health care
    16  providers, labor unions, payers, businesses and consumers  a  reasonable
    17  opportunity to speak about relevant matters at such community forum.
    18    [2.]  4.  No  later  than [sixty] thirty days [after] before holding a
    19  community forum pursuant to subdivision [one] three of this section, the
    20  commissioner shall make available to  the  public  on  the  department's
    21  website information regarding:
    22    (a) the proposed closure plan submitted by the health facility;
    23    (b) the anticipated impact of the general hospital's closure or unit's
    24  closure  on access to health care services by members of the surrounding
    25  community, including but not limited to recipients of medical assistance
    26  for needy persons, the uninsured, and underserved populations;
    27    [(b)] (c) specific measures the  department  and  other  parties  have
    28  taken  or  will take to ameliorate such anticipated impact including but
    29  not limited to ensuring that the services  to  be  eliminated  would  be
    30  available  to  Medicaid,  or individuals that are insured by a publicly-
    31  subsidized plan and uninsured patients at the surrounding  area  facili-
    32  ties that are taking new patients; and
    33    [(c)]  (d) any further recommendations regarding access to health care
    34  services in communities impacted by the general  hospital's  closure  or
    35  unit's closure.
    36    [3.]  5. A community forum conducted pursuant to this section shall be
    37  held at a location within a reasonable proximity to the general hospital
    38  or unit subject to the proposed closure, and shall be announced no  less
    39  than [ten] fourteen days prior to the date of such community forum. Such
    40  forum  shall  be held at a proper time and be accessible to the impacted
    41  community virtually and physically.
    42    [4.] 6. At least thirty days prior to a general hospital  applying  to
    43  the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services to convert from a
    44  general  hospital with inpatients to a rural emergency hospital under 42
    45  USC 1395x(kkk), or successor provisions,  such  general  hospital  shall
    46  hold  a public community forum for the purpose of obtaining public input
    47  concerning the anticipated impact of the general hospital's  closure  of
    48  inpatient  units, including but not limited to, the impact on recipients
    49  of medical assistance for needy  persons,  the  uninsured,  people  with
    50  disabilities,  and  medically  underserved  populations, and options and
    51  proposals to ameliorate such anticipated impact.
    52    [The] 7. No later than thirty days prior to a  community  forum  under
    53  this  section,  the general hospital shall notify health care providers,
    54  labor unions, the [congressional] local, state, and federal  legislative
    55  representative,  the  office  of the attorney general, the county execu-
    56  tive, mayor, town supervisor, and in the case of the city of  New  York,
        S. 8843                             3

     1  the  borough  president, and community board for [the] every district in
     2  which the [facility] general hospital and unit is or are  located,  [the
     3  county executive of the county in which the facility is located, and the
     4  state senator and assembly member representing the area within which the
     5  facility  is  located]  of the date, time, and location of the community
     6  forum. The general hospital  shall  afford  all  public  participants  a
     7  reasonable opportunity to speak about relevant matters at such community
     8  forum.  Prior  to  any  community  forum and as soon as practicable, the
     9  general hospital shall be required to:
    10    (a) notify the office of mental  health  and  the  local  director  of
    11  community  services  in  the event such general hospital has psychiatric
    12  inpatient beds licensed under article thirty-one of the  mental  hygiene
    13  law  or  designated  pursuant to section 9.39 of the mental hygiene law,
    14  and
    15    (b) notify the office of addiction services and supports in the  event
    16  such  general  hospital  has  inpatient substance use disorder treatment
    17  programs or inpatient chemical dependence  treatment  programs  licensed
    18  under  article  thirty-two  of  the mental hygiene law. The commissioner
    19  shall also accept comments submitted in writing at such public forum and
    20  by mail or electronic mail within  at  least  two  weeks  following  the
    21  community forum.
    22    8.  No  later  than thirty days after the community forum, the general
    23  hospital shall submit a revised closure plan to the department  address-
    24  ing  concerns  raised  by  community  stakeholders  during the community
    25  forum. The general hospital and the department shall  make  the  revised
    26  closure  plan  publicly available on their websites no later than forty-
    27  five days after the community forum.
    28    9. No later than January first two thousand twenty-five and   annually
    29  thereafter,  the commissioner shall provide a report to the legislature,
    30  including but not limited to, identifying the general hospital  or  unit
    31  of a general hospital that has provided written notice of a closure, the
    32  proposed closure date and the services impacted by the proposed closure.
    33  Such report shall be provided in electronic format and shall be distrib-
    34  uted  to  the temporary president and minority leader of the senate, the
    35  speaker and minority leader of the assembly, the  chair  of  the  senate
    36  standing  committee  on  health,  and  the  chair of the assembly health
    37  committee.
    38    § 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
    39  have  become a law, and shall not apply to any matter subject to section
    40  2801-g of the public health law that is pending on  the  date  it  shall
    41  take effect.