Requires hospitals to report cases of poisoning occurring within the hospital or which are presented to the hospital to the department of health and the regional poison control center.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9355
SPONSOR: Paulin TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to mandating that
hospitals report cases involving poison to poison control centers
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To ensure that outbreaks and trends of poison cases are accurately
tracked in order to better prevent health based consequences.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends paragraph 2 of section 2805 of the public health law in
order to mandate that cases of poisoning which occur within the hospital
as well as those which have been presented to the hospital are reported
to the department.
Section 2 establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Under current law, hospitals are required to report poisoning events
happening within the hospital to the Department of Health. However,
there is no statutory requirement for hospitals to report outside cases
presented to them directly to the Department of Health and Poison
Control Centers. This is a barrier which hampers the poison control
network's ability to accurately track trends and outbreaks. This lack
of communication delays coordinated responses, obscures emerging public
health threats, and unnecessarily puts lives at risk. Poison Control
Centers play a critical role in public health surveillance, emergency
response, and the prevention of poisoning-related injuries and deaths.
Timely reporting of poisoning cases allows these centers to track trends
in toxic exposures and identify emerging threats, provide real-time
guidance to healthcare providers on appropriate treatment and decontam-
ination protocols, and coordinate with public health agencies to issue
warnings or take preventive action when clusters of poisoning cases
occur. Mandating that hospitals report all poisoning cases to DOH and
Poison Control Centers will improye interagency coordination, accelerate
response times, and enhance patient safety.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
TBD.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9355
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
December 19, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to mandating that
hospitals report cases involving poison to poison control centers
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 2 of section 2805-l of the
2 public health law, as amended by section 58 of part H of chapter 59 of
3 the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
4 (d) cases of poisoning occurring within the hospital and cases which
5 are presented to the hospital. Such cases shall also be reported to the
6 regional poison control center;
7 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
8 have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13999-01-5
