Requires a health care provider or facility which has determined to cease to do business or which is transferring its ownership, at least sixty days prior to such action, notify the commissioner of health of its intent and shall provide a copy of its plan for transfer of patient records to another provider, facility or practitioner; if the determination to cease to do business or practice in this state resulted from illness, injury, or death, the commissioner shall work with the provider or his or her representative to facilitate notification and transfer records within one hundred sixty days after such notification.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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4174--C
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 12, 2013
___________
Introduced by Sens. GOLDEN, RIVERA -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
-- reported favorably from said committee and committed to the Commit-
tee on Finance -- committee discharged and said bill committed to the
Committee on Rules -- ordered to a third reading, amended and ordered
reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading -- recom-
mitted to the Committee on Higher Education in accordance with Senate
Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the education law and the public health law, in relation
to the transfer of patient medical records in certain circumstances
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 40 of section 6530 of the education law, as
2 added by chapter 606 of the laws of 1991, is amended to read as follows:
3 40. Failing to provide access by qualified persons to patient informa-
4 tion in accordance with the standards set forth in [section] sections
5 seventeen and eighteen of the public health law, such section eighteen
6 as added by chapter [497] four hundred ninety-seven of the laws of
7 [1986] nineteen hundred eighty-six;
8 § 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 18-b to
9 read as follows:
10 § 18-b. Requirement for transfer of information. 1. Definitions. For
11 the purposes of this section the following terms shall have the follow-
12 ing meanings:
13 (a) "Cease to do business in this state" shall mean any case where a
14 health care provider who has engaged in an on-going practice or business
15 within this state as a health care provider, ceases to engage in such
16 business, provided however, that this term shall not include a health
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01923-19-4
S. 4174--C 2
1 care practitioner whose practice is merged, consolidated, combined, or
2 acquired by another health care provider and he or she continues to
3 provide services including medical care, diagnosis or treatment to
4 patients as an employee, contractor, or owner of the merged, consol-
5 idated, combined, or acquiring health care provider.
6 (b) "Failure to provide access to medical information or medical
7 records" shall mean any circumstance where a health care provider,
8 health care facility or health care practitioner, as such terms are
9 defined in section eighteen of this title, such section eighteen as
10 added by chapter four hundred ninety-seven of the laws of nineteen
11 hundred eighty-six, that is planning to cease to do business in the
12 state and fails to act in accordance to the requirements prescribed by
13 the commissioner for transfer of patient information as such term is
14 defined in such section eighteen of this title or patient medical
15 records as described in section seventeen of this title.
16 (c) "Health care provider," "health care facility," and "health care
17 practitioner" shall have the same meaning as in section eighteen of this
18 title, as added by chapter four hundred ninety-seven of the laws of
19 nineteen hundred eighty-six.
20 (d) "Patient information" shall have the same meaning as in section
21 eighteen of this title, as added by chapter four hundred ninety-seven of
22 the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-six.
23 (e) "Patient medical records" shall mean the records that, upon writ-
24 ten request by a competent patient, parent or guardian of an infant, a
25 guardian appointed pursuant to article eighty-one of the mental hygiene
26 law, or conservator of a conservatee, are required to be provided to a
27 physician or hospital pursuant to section seventeen of this title.
28 2. A health care provider which has in its possession patient informa-
29 tion or patient medical records and which has determined to permanently
30 cease to do business or practice in this state shall, at least sixty
31 days prior to such action, notify the commissioner of its intent to
32 cease operations in this state, in the form and manner prescribed by the
33 commissioner, and shall provide a copy of its plan, in the form and
34 manner prescribed by the commissioner, for transfer of patient informa-
35 tion or patient medical records to another provider, facility, practi-
36 tioner or patient, as requested by the patient or required pursuant to
37 law. The sixty day requirement for notification to the commissioner
38 shall be waived if a health care provider determines to cease to do
39 business or practice in this state as a result of illness, injury or
40 death.
41 3. Within ten days of being notified by a health care provider of the
42 provider's determination to cease to do business or practice in this
43 state, the commissioner shall prescribe the requirements for transfer of
44 patient information and patient medical records, provided that such
45 requirements shall include (a) a maximum period of time, not to exceed
46 sixty days from the date that the health care provider, health care
47 facility or health care practitioner ceases to practice to do business
48 in this state, for the completion of the transfer, and (b) a plan for
49 notifying patients of the closure or cessation of doing business in New
50 York and informing such patients of their right to request their patient
51 information or patient medical records be sent to the health care
52 provider, health care facility or health care practitioner of his or her
53 choice or returned to themselves. If the determination to cease to do
54 business or practice in this state was made as a result of illness,
55 injury or death the commissioner shall work with the health care provid-
56 er, or where appropriate the health care provider's representative, to
S. 4174--C 3
1 facilitate notice to patients of the health care provider of his or her
2 decision to cease to do business or practice in this state and the
3 transfer of patient medical records to the patient or the health care
4 provider, health care facility, or health care practitioner requested by
5 such patient. The commissioner shall ensure that patient medical records
6 are transferred in a timely manner and shall not exceed one hundred
7 sixty days after being notified of the decision to cease to do business
8 in this state.
9 4. Nothing in this section shall authorize the disclosure of patient
10 information or patient medical records that are prohibited from disclo-
11 sure pursuant to law.
12 5. If the commissioner shall determine that the failure of any health
13 care provider, health care facility, or health care practitioner to
14 adhere to the terms of the plan that has been approved by the commis-
15 sioner for the transfer of patient information or patient medical
16 records and such failure shall have caused or may cause a threat to the
17 health of an individual patient who is the subject of such information
18 or medical records because more than six months has elapsed since a
19 prior laboratory test, the results of which are contained in the
20 patient's information or medical records, the commissioner may order new
21 laboratory tests to be performed by a practitioner chosen or approved by
22 the commissioner. In order to expedite such laboratory tests, the
23 commissioner may order payment for such laboratory tests from any
24 account under the control of the department, and shall assess any such
25 health care provider, health care facility, or health care practitioner
26 who failed to release the patient's information or patient's medical
27 records in accordance with the plan approved by the commissioner for the
28 expenses associated with the cost of such laboratory tests. For
29 purposes of this subdivision, the term "laboratory tests" shall include,
30 but not be limited to, tests and examinations administered in clinical
31 laboratories or blood banks as those terms are defined in section five
32 hundred seventy-one of this chapter.
33 6. If the commissioner shall determine that a health care provider,
34 health care facility or health care practitioner has willfully, and
35 without good cause, failed to adhere to the terms of the plan that has
36 been approved by the commissioner for the transfer of patient informa-
37 tion or patient medical records, the commissioner may assess a penalty
38 not to exceed five hundred dollars for each of the first twenty failures
39 and two hundred fifty dollars for each additional failure thereafter but
40 any provider, facility or practitioner shall not be assessed a penalty
41 under this subdivision of more than thirty thousand dollars. An
42 aggrieved provider, facility or practitioner may appeal such assessment
43 to the medical record access review committees designated by the commis-
44 sioner pursuant to subdivision four of section eighteen of this title,
45 such section as added by chapter four hundred ninety-seven of the laws
46 of nineteen hundred eighty-six.
47 7. The provisions of this section shall not affect any rights afforded
48 pursuant to section seventeen or section eighteen of this title, such
49 section eighteen as added by chapter four hundred ninety-seven of the
50 laws of nineteen hundred eighty-six.
51 8. Any assessment made pursuant to this section shall be in addition
52 to any other assessment or penalty that is authorized by law.
53 9. Nothing in this section shall affect or extend the period of time
54 that a health care provider is required to retain a patient's medical
55 information and medical records.
56 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
