Amd Art 43-B Art Head, §207, desig §§4360 - 4368 to be Title 1, add Title 1 Head, Art 43-B Title 2 §§4369 -
4371, Pub Health L; amd §612, Tax L; add §365-o, Soc Serv L
Enacts the "New York state living donor support act" to provide state reimbursement to living organ donors, who are state residents, for medical and associated expenses incurred as a result of the organ donation, when the organ donation is made to another resident of the state; requires the provision of information on transplantation to patients with severe kidney disease.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1339
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 14, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. RIVERA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, the tax law and the social
services law, in relation to support of living organ donation
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "New York state living donor support act".
3 § 2. The article heading of article 43-B of the public health law, as
4 added by chapter 589 of the laws of 1990, is amended to read as follows:
5 ORGAN[, TISSUE AND BODY PARTS] PROCUREMENT AND [STORAGE]
6 DONOR SUPPORT
7 § 3. Sections 4360 through 4368 of article 43-B of the public health
8 law are designated title 1, and a new title heading is added to read as
9 follows:
10 ORGAN, TISSUE AND BODY PARTS PROCUREMENT AND STORAGE
11 § 4. Article 43-B of the public health law is amended by adding a new
12 title 2 to read as follows:
13 TITLE 2
14 LIVING ORGAN DONATION
15 Section 4369. Definitions.
16 4370. Reimbursement of living donor expenses.
17 4371. Transplant education of patients with kidney disease or
18 end stage renal failure.
19 § 4369. Definitions. As used in this title, the following terms shall
20 have the following meanings, unless the context clearly requires other-
21 wise:
22 1. "Living donation" means the gift by an individual of an organ of
23 that individual's body to be transplanted into another individual's
24 body, the gift to be executed while the donating individual is living
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03533-01-9
S. 1339 2
1 and with the intent that the donating individual will continue to live
2 after the execution of the gift.
3 2. "Living donor" means an individual who makes a living donation.
4 3. "Living donor expenses" means financial costs incurred by a living
5 donor that arise due to the act of living donation and its consequences,
6 that are subject to reimbursement under section forty-three hundred
7 seventy of this title.
8 4. "Living donor support program" or "program" means the living donor
9 support program established under section forty-three hundred seventy of
10 this title.
11 5. "Paired donation" means a living donation in which the living
12 donor's organ is incompatible with the ultimate intended recipient and
13 the living donor's organ is transplanted into another recipient, and in
14 turn another living donor makes a living donation, directly or through
15 one or more paired donations, to the ultimate recipient.
16 § 4370. Reimbursement of living donor expenses. 1. The living donor
17 support program is hereby established in the department.
18 2. (a) Subject to appropriations therefor, the program shall pay the
19 living donor expenses for living donors who are residents of the state
20 and make a living donation in which the ultimate recipient, either
21 directly or through paired donation is a resident of the state. The
22 commissioner through regulations shall establish eligible living donor
23 expenses that are eligible for reimbursement under the program which
24 shall include at a minimum: lost wages (including demonstrated lost
25 non-employment income); the economic value of sick or vacation days
26 expended; travel and lodging, child care and elder care expenses; and
27 costs of medications and care associated with the living donation
28 surgery. The total period of time related to lost wages or expended sick
29 or vacation days shall not exceed four weeks unless special circum-
30 stances are demonstrated, such as the nature of physical labor required
31 for the living donor's employment; provided that the total period shall
32 in no event exceed eight weeks. The commissioner may by regulation
33 impose a limitation on: (i) the amount of lost wages for a living donor
34 making an income in excess of an annual rate of one hundred twenty-five
35 thousand dollars; or (ii) the amount of living donor expenses above
36 fourteen thousand dollars for any single living donor; and may include
37 additional living donor expenses including reimbursement for costs of
38 care performed by relatives or family members of the living donor.
39 (b) The program shall not pay reimbursement for expenses paid or
40 required to be paid for by any third-party payer, including wages or
41 other expenses that were covered under paid medical leave by the living
42 donor's employer or that are covered by other sources of reimbursement
43 such as the federal National Living Donor Assistance Program. The
44 program shall be the payer of last resort with respect to any benefit
45 under the program.
46 (c) Living donor expenses shall be reimbursed as close in time as
47 possible to their being incurred by the donor, including by pre-payment
48 where practicable.
49 3. (a) The commissioner may contract for the administration of
50 reimbursement under the program. Factors such as cost to the state, ease
51 of use for the living donor, and ease of use for transplant center
52 hospitals shall be taken into consideration when awarding such contract.
53 (b) The commissioner shall make regulations to implement this section.
54 (c) This section shall be interpreted so as not to conflict with the
55 federal National Organ Transplant Act (42 U.S.C. 274e).
S. 1339 3
1 § 4371. Transplant education of patients with kidney disease or end
2 stage renal failure. For any patient with chronic kidney disease stage
3 four or end stage renal disease, a nephrologist managing the patient's
4 treatment or, if the patient is not under the treatment of a nephrolo-
5 gist then the patient's primary care practitioner, shall consider wheth-
6 er the patient is a candidate for transplantation under applicable
7 professional and legal guidelines, and, if the patient appears to be a
8 candidate for transplantation, provide the patient with transplant
9 education materials including those prepared under section two hundred
10 seven of this chapter.
11 § 5. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 1 of section 207 of the public
12 health law, as amended by section 16 of part A of chapter 109 of the
13 laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
14 (d) The need for and importance of organ and tissue donation, includ-
15 ing living donation, including information about being registered as an
16 organ and tissue donor and executing documents of gift under article
17 forty-three of this chapter; and information to increase patient under-
18 standing about the medical option of transplant and its desirability.
19 In implementing this paragraph, the department shall consult with the
20 transplant council in the department.
21 § 6. Paragraph 38 of subsection (c) of section 612 of the tax law, as
22 added by chapter 565 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as follows:
23 (38) An amount of up to ten thousand dollars if a taxpayer, while
24 living, donates one or more of his or her human organs to another human
25 being for human organ transplantation. For purposes of this paragraph,
26 "human organ" means all or part of a liver, pancreas, kidney, intestine,
27 lung, or bone marrow. A subtract modification allowed under this para-
28 graph shall be claimed in the taxable year in which the human organ
29 transplantation occurs. Provided, however, that this deduction shall
30 not apply to any donation for which the taxpayer has received benefits
31 under section forty-three hundred seventy of the public health law.
32 § 7. The social services law is amended by adding a new section 365-o
33 to read as follows:
34 § 365-o. Provision and coverage of services for living organ donors.
35 This section applies in the case of a living donor under section forty-
36 three hundred seventy of the public health law who is otherwise eligible
37 for medical assistance under this article. Services for that person
38 covered under that section that would otherwise be health care services
39 under this article shall be paid for under this article and not under
40 such section, provided federal financial participation is available.
41 § 8. This act shall take effect on the first of April next succeeding
42 the date on which it shall have become a law; provided that, effective
43 immediately, the commissioner of health shall make regulations and take
44 other actions reasonably necessary to implement this act on that date.
