Requires hospitals to obtain verbal and written informed consent from a patient or representative before including such patient's information in a general hospital facility directory.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10164--A
IN SENATE
May 1, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to consent to include
patient information in a general hospital facility directory
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section
2 2805-aa to read as follows:
3 § 2805-aa. General hospital facility directories. 1. No general hospi-
4 tal shall include any patient in a facility directory without first
5 obtaining verbal and written informed consent from the patient or the
6 patient's legal representative. In order for such consent to be valid,
7 the general hospital shall inform the patient that the information
8 contained within the facility directory may be shared with others, and
9 the patient shall receive a copy of the general hospital's policy on the
10 facility directory.
11 2. If the opportunity to consent to inclusion in the facility directo-
12 ry cannot practicably be provided because of the patient's incapacity,
13 provided the patient's legal representative is not practicably avail-
14 able, or an emergency circumstance, a general hospital may include the
15 patient in the facility directory and may disclose such patient's iden-
16 tifying information, if such disclosure:
17 (a) is consistent with a prior expressed preference of the individual,
18 if any, that is known to the general hospital; and
19 (b) is in the individual's best interest, as determined by general
20 hospital staff, in the exercise of professional judgment.
21 § 2. This act shall take effect eighteen months after it shall have
22 become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15606-05-6
