NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9611
SPONSOR: Gottfried TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public health law, in relation to
ensuring ongoing quality assurance measures for emergency medical and
trauma care and autopsy reports on deceased patients treated at hospi-
tals
PURPOSE:
This bill will require agencies that conduct autopsies following trau-
matic death (medical examiners, coroners, etc) in New York State to
share their findings with referring hospitals in order to facilitate
this quality improvement process.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends section 3066 of the public health law and
incorporates quality control measures into the items that the NYS
Department of Health shall review in conjunction with .the State Emer-
gency medical Services Council, State Emergency medical Advisory Commit-
tee and State Trauma Advisory Committee.
Section 2 of the bill amends section 4210 of the public health law and
provides that a copy of all autopsy reports conducted at hospitals
following treatment shall be given to the hospital in a timely manner
for the purposes of patient quality. improvement review and assessment.
Section 3 of the bill provides for the.effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Ongoing performance improvement and quality assurance is an important
component of the care provided at hospitals. The availability of autopsy
reports is an essential part of making sure that performance can be
evaluated and quality improved. In fact, agencies that verify and desig-
nate those hospitals which are trauma centers in New York State (Ameri-
can College of Surgeons-Committee on Trauma, New York State Department
of Health) require that trauma centers evaluate their outcomes on a
regular basis and conduct full reviews of all trauma center deaths.
This legislation will ensure that hospitals receive, in a timely manner,
autopsy reports for those cases in which they were involved. The avail-
ability of these autopsy findings can critical to understanding the
complete clinical picture and help ensure New York State's quality
improvement process is as strong as it can be.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9611
IN ASSEMBLY
May 12, 2014
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GOTTFRIED -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to ensuring ongoing
quality assurance measures for emergency medical and trauma care and
autopsy reports on deceased patients treated at hospitals
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 3066 of the public health law, as
2 added by chapter 449 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as follows:
3 4. The department shall develop and periodically revise a comprehen-
4 sive emergency medical and trauma care plan with the advice of the state
5 emergency medical services council, the state emergency medical advisory
6 committee and the state trauma advisory committee, incorporating injury
7 control programs and ongoing quality assurance measures for all compo-
8 nents of the trauma system involved in trauma care.
9 § 2. The section heading of section 4210 of the public health law is
10 amended and a new subdivision 2-a is added to read as follows:
11 [Cadavers] Deceased persons; right to dissect.
12 2-a. Where a person dies while under care or treatment at a general
13 hospital (as defined by subdivision ten of section twenty-eight hundred
14 one of this chapter) or while recovering from such care or treatment,
15 any autopsy report for such person shall be made available, by the
16 coroner or medical examiner under whose jurisdiction the autopsy was
17 performed, in a timely manner, to the hospital, for the purpose of ongo-
18 ing performance improvement of such hospital, including for the purposes
19 of sections twenty-eight hundred five-j and twenty-eight hundred five-k
20 of this chapter. All such reports in the possession of a hospital shall
21 be subject to the provisions of section twenty-eight hundred five-m of
22 this chapter.
23 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15062-02-4
