NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4594A
SPONSOR: Gottfried TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to hospice residence
in-patient beds
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To allow all hospice residences beds to be used for in-patient services.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:.
Amend Public Health Law § 4002 to permit up to 100% of a hospice resi-
dence's beds to be used for in-patient care.
JUSTIFICATION:
Current statute allows hospice residences to use 25% of their beds for
inpatient services that require medical intervention, such as uncon-
trolled vomiting, respiratory distress, fracture and wound care, symptom
monitoring, and other minor interventions to aid in the comfort of the
patient. When the needs for such services exceeds the current percentage
limit, the patient must be transferred to a hospital for care. Transfers
between facilities are always stressful to patients. Transfers that are
triggered by artificial capacity limits compromise patient care and
prohibit hospices from having the flexibility to meet their patients'
needs.
During the Coronavirus pandemic, the Governor issued Executive Order
202.14 to allow for 100% of a hospice residence's beds to be used as
general inpatient care. The order supports fundamental hospice care
principles and goals for compassionate end-of-life care. This bill would
make the executive order permanent.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:.
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4594--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 4, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GOTTFRIED, GUNTHER, THIELE, BRABENEC, JACOBSON --
read once and referred 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 hospice residence
in-patient beds
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 2-b of section 4002 of the public health law,
2 as amended by chapter 205 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 2-b. "Hospice residence" means a hospice operated home which is resi-
5 dential in character and physical structure and operated for the purpose
6 of providing more than two hospice patients but not more than sixteen
7 hospice patients with hospice care, which may include dually certified
8 hospice in-patient beds up to [twenty-five percent of the hospice resi-
9 dence's patient capacity, or up to fifty] one hundred percent of the
10 hospice residence's patient capacity [with the commissioner's approval].
11 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00560-02-1
