Provides that authorities having control of a fire department or fire company which provides emergency medical services may establish fees and charges for services.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7186--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
June 4, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sens. BROOKS, RATH, STEC -- read twice and ordered print-
ed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules --
recommitted to the Committee on Local Government in accordance with
Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law and the town law, in relation
to authorizing fees and charges for emergency medical services
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 209-b of the general municipal
2 law, as amended by chapter 476 of the laws of 2018, is amended to read
3 as follows:
4 4. Fees and charges [prohibited] authorized. [Emergency] (a) Subject
5 to the restrictions set forth in paragraph (d) of this subdivision,
6 emergency and general ambulance service, including emergency medical
7 service as defined in section three thousand one of the public health
8 law, authorized pursuant to this section [shall] may be furnished with-
9 out cost to the person served; provided, however, that the authorities
10 having control of a fire department or fire company that have authorized
11 such fire department or fire company to provide such service or services
12 may fix a schedule of fees or charges to be paid by persons requesting
13 such service or services. The authorities having control of a fire
14 department or fire company may provide for the collection of fees and
15 charges or may formulate rules and regulations for the collection there-
16 of by the fire department or fire company. When fees and charges are
17 authorized pursuant to this subdivision, the fees and charges collected
18 shall be disbursed in accordance with a written contract entered into
19 between the authority having control of a fire department or fire compa-
20 ny and the fire department or fire company itself. The acceptance by
21 any firefighter of any personal remuneration or gratuity, directly or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03579-10-2
S. 7186--A 2
1 indirectly, from a person served shall be a ground for his or her expul-
2 sion or suspension as a member of the fire department or fire company.
3 (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subdivi-
4 sion, a basic life support service which establishes a schedule of fees
5 for service shall enter into a contract with a provider or providers of
6 advanced life support services to provide such advanced life support
7 services. Such contract shall at a minimum establish the fees for
8 advanced life support services and the means by which said provider will
9 be reimbursed when the ambulance service bills for emergency medical
10 service.
11 (c) An emergency and general ambulance service, including emergency
12 medical service as defined in section three thousand one of the public
13 health law, authorized pursuant to this section which does not issue a
14 bill for its services and which requests an Advanced Life Support (ALS)
15 intercept from another ambulance service furnishing service in an area
16 that is designated as a rural area by any law or regulation of the
17 state, or that is located in a rural census tract of a metropolitan
18 statistical area (as determined under the most recent Goldsmith Modifi-
19 cation), shall pay the ambulance service providing the ALS intercept an
20 ALS Rural Intercept Fee at rates negotiated between the providers of
21 such services. In the absence of any agreed upon rates, the service
22 receiving such ALS intercept shall pay the service providing the ALS
23 intercept for such services at the usual and customary charge, which
24 shall not be excessive or unreasonable.
25 (d) An emergency and general ambulance service, including emergency
26 medical service as defined in section three thousand one of the public
27 health law, authorized pursuant to this section to fix a schedule of
28 fees or charges to be paid by persons requesting such service or
29 services, may apply such fees and charges only within such service's
30 primary response territory as assigned and evidenced by a valid ambu-
31 lance service certificate issued by the commissioner of health pursuant
32 to section three thousand five of the public health law, on or before
33 January first, two thousand twenty-two.
34 (e) An emergency and general ambulance service, including emergency
35 medical service as defined in section three thousand one of the public
36 health law, authorized pursuant to this section shall not directly issue
37 a bill for its services to any uninsured recipient of such services.
38 § 2. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 1 of section 122-b of the general
39 municipal law, as amended by chapter 303 of the laws of 1980, is amended
40 to read as follows:
41 (e) [No] A contract [shall] may be entered into pursuant to the
42 provisions of this section for the services of an emergency rescue and
43 first aid squad of a fire department or fire company which is subject to
44 the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of [the general municipal
45 law] this chapter;
46 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 184 of the town law, as amended by chap-
47 ter 599 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows:
48 1. Whenever the town board shall have established or extended a fire
49 protection district pursuant to the provisions of this article, the town
50 board shall provide for the furnishing of fire protection within the
51 district and for that purpose may (a) contract with any city, village,
52 fire district or incorporated fire company maintaining adequate and
53 suitable apparatus and appliances for the furnishing of fire protection
54 in such district or (b) may acquire by gift or purchase such apparatus
55 and appliances for use in such district and may contract with any city,
56 village, fire district or incorporated fire company for operation, main-
S. 7186--A 3
1 tenance, and repair of the same and for the furnishing of fire
2 protection in such district, or both. The contract may also provide for
3 the furnishing of (1) emergency service in case of accidents, calamities
4 or other emergencies in connection with which the services of firefight-
5 ers would be required and (2) general ambulance service subject, howev-
6 er, to the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the general
7 municipal law. In the event that the fire department or fire company
8 furnishing fire protection within the district pursuant to contract does
9 not maintain and operate an ambulance then a separate contract may be
10 made for the furnishing within the district of emergency ambulance
11 service or general ambulance service, or both, with any city, village or
12 fire district the fire department of which, or with an incorporated fire
13 company having its headquarters outside the district which, maintains
14 and operates an ambulance subject, however, in the case of general ambu-
15 lance service, to the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the
16 general municipal law, or with an ambulance service, certified or regis-
17 tered pursuant to article thirty of the public health law[, which is not
18 organized under the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the
19 general municipal law]. Any such contract with any such ambulance
20 service permitted herein shall be subject to the provisions of this
21 section.
22 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
23 have become a law and shall apply to health care claims submitted on or
24 after such date.
