STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8331--B
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
August 5, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ENGLEBRIGHT -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Higher Education -- committee discharged, bill amended,
ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee --
recommitted to the Committee on Higher Education in accordance with
Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring medical
assistants to be certified by and registered with the education
department
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new article
2 131-A-1 to read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 131-A-1
4 MEDICAL ASSISTANTS
5 Section 6533. Definitions.
6 6534. Scope of tasks.
7 6535. Requirements for registration.
8 § 6533. Definitions. As used in this section:
9 1. "Medical assistant" means a person, who acts as a medical support
10 professional, who is not otherwise licensed, registered or certified
11 pursuant to this title or the public health law, and who performs a
12 variety of tasks under the direct supervision of onsite licensed health
13 care practitioners in administering preventive, curative, rehabilitative
14 or promotional care services in a health care facility or medical prac-
15 tice.
16 2. "Licensed health care practitioner" means any person licensed
17 registered or certified pursuant to this title to provide health care
18 including, but not limited to, physicians, physician assistants, certi-
19 fied nurse practitioners, registered professional nurses and licensed
20 practical nurses.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11553-07-6
A. 8331--B 2
1 3. "Practice as a medical assistant" means to assist a licensed health
2 care practitioner in providing services directly related to health care
3 of patients as a medical assistant.
4 4. "Direct supervision" means a licensed health care practitioner, who
5 is on the premises and readily available, delegating to and supervising
6 a medical assistant in an outpatient setting in the performance of
7 health care including, but not limited to, measuring vital signs, apply-
8 ing or changing wound dressings, performing electrocardiograms, taking
9 laboratory specimens (including blood), and providing assistance to such
10 practitioner, while under his or her direct supervision, in the perform-
11 ance of a specific medical task.
12 § 6534. Scope of tasks. 1. On and after January first, two thousand
13 sixteen, no person may practice as a medical assistant unless he or she
14 is registered pursuant to the provision of this article.
15 2. Medical assistants are authorized to perform the following clinical
16 practices, while under the direct supervision of a licensed health care
17 practitioner:
18 a. measuring vital signs;
19 b. preparing patients for medical examinations;
20 c. applying and changing wound dressings;
21 d. performing electrocardiograms;
22 e. taking laboratory specimens (including blood);
23 f. assisting a licensed health care practitioner, while under such
24 practitioner's direct supervision, to perform a specific medical task;
25 g. assembling and maintaining health care charts, entering data into
26 electronic health care records and assisting with billing; and
27 h. taking medical histories.
28 3. Persons performing only non-clinical duties, such as assembling and
29 maintaining health care charts, entering data into electronic health
30 care records and/or assisting with billing; and persons having special-
31 ized training performing only phlebotomy or electrocardiograms, and no
32 other health care practices, shall not be deemed to be engaged in prac-
33 tice as a medical assistant and shall not be required to be registered
34 pursuant to this article.
35 4. No provisions of this article shall be deemed to prohibit any
36 licensed health care practitioner from performing any task within the
37 scope of his or her practice.
38 § 6535. Requirements for registration. To qualify for a registration
39 as a medical assistant, an applicant shall fulfill the following
40 requirements:
41 1. Application: file an application with the department;
42 2. Education: must have a high school diploma or its equivalent;
43 3. Age: be at least eighteen years of age;
44 4. Training: must have successfully completed one of the following:
45 a. a post secondary or undergraduate medical assistant training
46 program accredited by a regional or national organization recognized by
47 the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs or
48 the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools, or offered by an
49 educational institution accredited by the federal Department of Educa-
50 tion, or otherwise approved by the department;
51 b. a medical assistant training program approved by the department or
52 the department of labor, including any agency or office of either such
53 department;
54 c. twelve consecutive months, and not less than seven hundred hours
55 during such twelve month period, of experiential training as a medical
A. 8331--B 3
1 assistant under the direct supervision of a licensed health care practi-
2 tioner, as affirmed and attested to in writing by such practitioner; or
3 d. any medical assistant training program provided by the armed forces
4 of the United States for which the applicant possesses a certificate of
5 completion;
6 5. Certification: must have obtained and maintain a medical assistance
7 credential from a national certifying body with a medical assistant
8 program accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agency or
9 any other nationally recognized and approved accreditor of certifying
10 programs acceptable to the department;
11 6. Registration: a. Any person who practices as a medical assistant on
12 or after the effective date of this article, shall comply with the
13 provisions of subdivision five of this section and register with the
14 department on or before January first, two thousand seventeen.
15 b. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph a of this subdivision,
16 any person who has practiced as a medical assistant for five or more
17 years before the effective date of this article, shall be exempt from
18 the certification requirement of subdivision five of this section; and
19 7. Fees: pay a fee in such an amount as shall be determined by the
20 department.
21 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
