STATE OF NEW YORK
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11665
IN ASSEMBLY
September 2, 2026
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Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Wieder) --
read once and referred to the Committee on Mental Health
AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to telehealth
in-home mental health service delivery
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings and intent. The legislature finds and
2 declares that:
3 1. Access to mental health services is a critical public health prior-
4 ity throughout New York state, particularly in rural, underserved, and
5 geographically isolated communities.
6 2. Telehealth has proven to be a vital and effective modality for
7 delivering mental health outpatient treatment and rehabilitative
8 services, removing barriers of geography, transportation, and stigma
9 that prevent New Yorkers from obtaining needed care.
10 3. The office of mental health, through its regulations adopted pursu-
11 ant to title 14 NYCRR parts 596 and 599, has broadly authorized licensed
12 article thirty-one mental health outpatient treatment and rehabilitative
13 service programs to deliver services via telehealth to recipients at
14 their place of residence or other location, without regard to the county
15 in which the recipient resides.
16 4. Notwithstanding such regulatory authority, certain regional field
17 offices of the office of mental health have imposed, or attempted to
18 impose, geographic restrictions limiting licensed article thirty-one
19 providers to serving only recipients within the county of the program's
20 primary operating certificate. Such restrictions have no basis in stat-
21 ute or regulation, are inconsistent with state policy, and cause direct
22 harm to recipients who depend on telehealth services for continuity of
23 care.
24 5. The legislature further finds that operating certificate renewal
25 proceedings should not be used as a mechanism to enforce restrictions on
26 geographic service areas that are unsupported by statute or duly promul-
27 gated regulation.
28 6. It is therefore the intent of the legislature to:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD16066-01-6
A. 11665 2
1 (a) codify in statute the right of licensed article 31 mental health
2 outpatient treatment and rehabilitative service programs to deliver
3 telehealth services to recipients without restriction as to county of
4 residence;
5 (b) ensure uniformity of regulatory interpretation across all regional
6 field offices of the office of mental health; and
7 (c) protect recipient access to mental health services by prohibiting
8 the imposition of county-based geographic service restrictions on tele-
9 health delivery.
10 § 2. The mental hygiene law is amended by adding a new section 31.04-a
11 to read as follows:
12 § 31.04-a Telehealth services; geographic service area.
13 (a) As used in this section:
14 1. "Article thirty-one telehealth provider" means a provider of mental
15 health services licensed, designated, or authorized by the office pursu-
16 ant to article thirty-one of this chapter that has received written
17 approval from the office to provide telehealth services pursuant to this
18 article and the regulations promulgated thereunder.
19 2. "Telehealth services" shall have the same meaning as set forth in
20 section 596.2 of title 14 of the New York codes, rules and regulations,
21 or any successor provision.
22 3. "Recipient" means an individual receiving or seeking to receive
23 mental health outpatient treatment and rehabilitative services from a
24 licensed article thirty-one telehealth provider.
25 (b) An article thirty-one telehealth provider that has been approved
26 by the office to deliver telehealth services shall be authorized to
27 provide such services to recipients located anywhere within the state of
28 New York, without regard to the county in which the recipient resides or
29 in which the recipient is physically located at the time of service. No
30 condition, restriction, or limitation imposed on a provider's operating
31 certificate shall be construed to restrict telehealth services to recip-
32 ients within any particular county or counties unless such restriction
33 is expressly set forth in statute or in a regulation duly promulgated
34 pursuant to the state administrative procedure act.
35 (c) The commissioner shall not, and no regional field office of the
36 office of mental health shall, by letter, guidance, directive, informal
37 instruction, condition on operating certificate, condition on operating
38 certificate renewal, corrective action plan, or other non-regulatory
39 action, restrict or limit an article thirty-one telehealth provider's
40 authority to deliver telehealth services based solely on the county of
41 residence or location of the recipient, unless such restriction is:
42 1. expressly required by a statute of the state of New York or federal
43 law; or
44 2. adopted as a regulation through the rulemaking procedures set forth
45 in the state administrative procedure act.
46 (d) The delivery of telehealth services by an article thirty-one tele-
47 health provider to a recipient shall be governed by the clinical needs
48 of the recipient and the recipient's right to choose their provider. No
49 article thirty-one telehealth provider shall be penalized, sanctioned,
50 or subject to adverse operating certificate action for providing tele-
51 health services to recipients located outside the county of the provid-
52 er's primary licensed site, provided that such services are otherwise
53 delivered in compliance with applicable statutes and duly promulgated
54 regulations.
55 (e) The commissioner shall ensure that the office's policies and stan-
56 dards regarding the geographic scope of telehealth service delivery by
A. 11665 3
1 article thirty-one providers are applied uniformly by all regional field
2 offices of the office of mental health. Within one hundred eighty days
3 of the effective date of this section, the commissioner shall issue
4 written guidance to all regional field offices clarifying:
5 1. that no county-based geographic restriction on telehealth delivery
6 is authorized under this article or any regulation promulgated there-
7 under, except as provided in subdivision (c) of this section; and
8 2. the standard operating procedures for review and approval of tele-
9 health service plans submitted by article thirty-one providers.
10 (f) The renewal of an operating certificate issued to an article thir-
11 ty-one telehealth provider shall not be denied, conditioned, or delayed
12 based on the provider's delivery of telehealth services to recipients
13 outside the county of the provider's primary licensed site, where such
14 delivery was otherwise consistent with the provider's approved tele-
15 health plan and applicable statutes and duly promulgated regulations.
16 (g) The commissioner shall have the authority to promulgate rules and
17 regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this section,
18 consistent with the requirements of the state administrative procedure
19 act.
20 (h) Where a recipient is unable or unwilling to attend a clinic site
21 for in-person services, and it is clinically determined that telehealth
22 is not a viable option, an article thirty-one telehealth provider shall
23 be authorized to deliver services at the recipient's place of residence.
24 The commissioner shall establish a Medicaid reimbursement rate for
25 in-home services delivered pursuant to this subdivision equivalent to
26 the standard office visit rate applicable to licensed article thirty-one
27 outpatient services, so as to ensure no additional fiscal impact to the
28 state.
29 § 3. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision,
30 section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of competent
31 jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or
32 invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation
33 to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or part thereof
34 directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have
35 been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the legislature
36 that this act would have been enacted even if such invalid provisions
37 had not been included herein.
38 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
39 have become a law.
