Allows a notice of dense breast tissue to be considered a determination of medical necessity for purposes of coverage of breast ultrasounds as recommended by a provider of mammography services.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3559
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 28, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sens. CLEARE, ASHBY, CANZONERI-FITZPATRICK, COMRIE,
FERNANDEZ, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, PALUMBO, PARKER -- read twice and ordered
printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to allowing a notice
of dense breast tissue to be considered a determination of medical
necessity for coverage of a breast ultrasound
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 2404-c of the public health law, as added by chap-
2 ter 265 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 2404-c. Breast cancer; duty of providers of mammography services to
4 notify and inform. 1. Every provider of mammography services shall, if a
5 patient's mammogram demonstrates dense breast tissue, provide notifica-
6 tion to such patient that shall include, but not be limited to, the
7 following information, in any summary of the mammography report sent,
8 pursuant to the federal mammography quality standards act, to the
9 patient:
10 Your mammogram shows that your breast tissue is dense. Dense breast
11 tissue is very common and is not abnormal. However, dense breast tissue
12 can make it harder to find cancer on a mammogram and may also be associ-
13 ated with an increased risk of breast cancer.
14 This information about the result of your mammogram is given to you to
15 raise your awareness. Use this information to talk to your doctor about
16 your own risks for breast cancer. At that time, ask your doctor if more
17 screening tests might be useful, based on your risk. A report of your
18 results was sent to your physician.
19 For the purposes of this section dense breast tissue shall mean heter-
20 ogeneously dense or extremely dense tissue as defined in nationally
21 recognized guidelines or systems for breast imaging reporting of mammog-
22 raphy screening, including, but not limited to, the breast imaging
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02130-01-5
S. 3559 2
1 reporting and data system of the American College of Radiology, and any
2 equivalent new terms, as such guidelines or systems are updated.
3 2. Where a provider of mammography services has provided notice to a
4 patient under subdivision one of this section, the notice shall be
5 considered a determination of medical necessity for purposes of coverage
6 of a breast ultrasound.
7 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
