Establishes certification procedures for the profession of nurse anesthesia; provides for the issuance of a certification to practice as a certified registered nurse anesthetist upon the filing of an application, having a license as a registered professional nurse, having the appropriate educational requirements and paying the fifty dollar initial certification fee and the triennial thirty dollar registration fee.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10606
IN ASSEMBLY
March 13, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HYNDMAN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the profession of
nurse anesthesia
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds that
2 certified registered nurse anesthetists are highly educated and trained
3 advanced practice nurses who hold a national professional certification,
4 and whose competency in the professional practice of nurse anesthesia in
5 hospitals, free-standing ambulatory surgery centers, clinics, profes-
6 sional offices and other facilities is well known. Nurse anesthetists
7 are integral to the continued professional delivery of services in such
8 health care facilities throughout the state.
9 The legislature further finds that statutory recognition of nurse
10 anesthetists will further enhance patient safety by codifying their
11 professional scope of practice that is currently governed in this state
12 by regulations promulgated pursuant to the public health law in the case
13 of hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers.
14 The legislature also finds that while nurse anesthetists are advanced
15 practice nurses, licensed as registered professional nurses under arti-
16 cle 139 of the education law, no provision of this act is meant to
17 limit, diminish or in any way impinge upon the practice of the profes-
18 sion of nursing as a registered professional nurse under such article.
19 Therefore, the legislature hereby declares that, due to the intrinsic
20 nature of the administration of anesthesia services, the integral part
21 that certified registered nurse anesthetists play in the safe delivery
22 of such services and the need to protect and enhance patient safety in
23 all health care facilities, it is in the interest of the people of this
24 state to recognize the national professional certification of registered
25 nurse anesthetists and that the existing scope of practice of nurse
26 anesthesia, as currently practiced in this state, be codified in stat-
27 ute.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06268-01-5
A. 10606 2
1 § 2. Section 6902 of the education law is amended by adding a new
2 subdivision 4 to read as follows:
3 4. (a) The practice of registered professional nursing by a certified
4 registered nurse anesthetist, certified under section sixty-nine hundred
5 thirteen of this article may include the practice of nurse anesthesia.
6 Nurse anesthesia includes: the administration of anesthesia and anes-
7 thesia related care to patients; preanesthetics evaluation and prepara-
8 tion; anesthetic induction, maintenance and emergence; post anesthesia
9 care; perianesthetics and clinical support functions; and pain manage-
10 ment, in collaboration with a licensed physician qualified by law to
11 determine the need for anesthesia services, provided such services are
12 performed in accordance with a written practice agreement and written
13 practice protocols. The written practice agreement shall include explic-
14 it provisions for the resolution of any disagreement between the collab-
15 orating physician and the certified registered nurse anesthetist regard-
16 ing a matter of anesthesia treatment that is within the scope of
17 practice of both. To the extent the practice agreement does not so
18 provide, then the collaborating physician's treatment shall prevail.
19 (b) Prescriptions for drugs, devices and anesthetic agents may be
20 issued by a certified registered nurse anesthetist, under this subdivi-
21 sion and section sixty-nine hundred thirteen of this article, in accord-
22 ance with the practice agreement and practice protocols. The certified
23 registered nurse anesthetist shall obtain a certificate from the depart-
24 ment upon successfully completing a program including an appropriate
25 pharmacology component, or its equivalent, as established by the commis-
26 sioner's regulations, prior to prescribing under this subdivision. The
27 certificate issued under section sixty-nine hundred thirteen of this
28 article shall state whether the certified registered nurse anesthetist
29 has successfully completed such a program or equivalent and is author-
30 ized to prescribe under this subdivision.
31 (c) Each practice agreement shall provide for patient records review
32 by the collaborating physician in a timely fashion but in no event less
33 often than every three months. The names of the certified registered
34 nurse anesthetist and the collaborating physician shall be clearly post-
35 ed in the practice setting of the certified registered nurse anesthe-
36 tist.
37 (d) The practice protocol shall reflect current accepted medical and
38 nursing practice. The protocols shall be filed with the department with-
39 in ninety days of the commencement of the practice and may be updated
40 periodically. The commissioner shall make regulations establishing the
41 procedure for the review of protocols and the disposition of any issues
42 arising from such review.
43 (e) No physician shall enter into practice agreements with more than
44 four certified registered nurse anesthetists who are not located on the
45 same physical premises as the collaborating physician.
46 (f) Nothing in this subdivision shall be deemed to limit or diminish
47 the practice of the profession of nursing as a registered professional
48 nurse under this article or any other law, rule, regulation or certif-
49 ication, nor to deny any registered professional nurse the right to do
50 any act or engage in any practice authorized by this article or any
51 other law, rule, regulation or certification.
52 (g) The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to any activity
53 authorized, pursuant to statute, rule or regulation, to be performed by
54 a registered professional nurse in a hospital as defined in article
55 twenty-eight of the public health law.
A. 10606 3
1 § 3. The education law is amended by adding a new section 6913 to read
2 as follows:
3 § 6913. Certificates for nurse anesthesia practice. 1. For issuance of
4 a certificate to practice as a certified registered nurse anesthetist
5 under subdivision four of section sixty-nine hundred two of this arti-
6 cle, the applicant shall fulfill the following requirements:
7 (a) Application: file an application with the department;
8 (b) License: be licensed as a registered professional nurse in the
9 state;
10 (c) Education: (i) have satisfactorily completed educational prepara-
11 tion for provision of these services in a program registered by the
12 department or in a program accredited by a national body recognized by
13 the department or determined by the department to be the equivalent; and
14 (ii) submit evidence of current certification or recertification by a
15 national certifying body, recognized by the department;
16 (d) Fees: pay a fee to the department of fifty dollars for an initial
17 certificate authorizing nurse anesthesia practice and a triennial regis-
18 tration fee of thirty dollars.
19 After a certified registered nurse anesthetist's initial registration,
20 registration under this section shall be coterminous with the certified
21 registered nurse anesthetist's registration as a professional nurse.
22 2. Only a person certified under this section shall use the title
23 "certified registered nurse anesthetist".
24 3. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any act or prac-
25 tice authorized by any other law, rule, regulation or certification.
26 4. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any activity
27 authorized, pursuant to statute, rule or regulation, to be performed by
28 a registered professional nurse in a hospital as defined in article
29 twenty-eight of the public health law.
30 5. An individual who is authorized to practice as a certified regis-
31 tered nurse anesthetist in a hospital under regulations of the depart-
32 ment of health may use the title "certified registered nurse anesthe-
33 tist" in connection with that practice. If such an individual applies
34 for a certificate under this section, they may satisfy the education
35 requirement of subdivision one of this section by presenting satisfac-
36 tory evidence of such authority.
37 6. (a) A registered professional nurse licensed under section sixty-
38 nine hundred five of this article who has satisfactorily completed a
39 program of educational preparation as provided in subdivision one of
40 this section may, for a period not to exceed twenty-four months imme-
41 diately following the completion of such educational program, practice
42 nurse anesthesia under subdivision four of section sixty-nine hundred
43 two of this article as a graduate nurse anesthetist in the same manner
44 as a certified registered nurse anesthetist under that subdivision.
45 (b) A registered professional nurse licensed under section sixty-nine
46 hundred five of this article who is duly enrolled in a program of educa-
47 tional preparation, may practice nurse anesthesia as a student nurse
48 anesthetist under the supervision of an anesthesiologist or a certified
49 registered nurse anesthetist, who is immediately available as needed.
50 7. The commissioner is authorized to promulgate regulations to imple-
51 ment the provisions of this section.
52 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
