In recent weeks, the New York State Senate and Assembly have considered the following health care-related legislation.

• Nursing Care Quality Protection Act: A.2623/S.3234, sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and Senator John DeFrancisco, passed the full Assembly and was referred to the Senate Health Committee on April 17. This legislation would require facilities to disclose nursing quality indicators and directs the Commissioner of Health to promulgate rules and regulations on information to be disclosed. GNYHA has concerns that such information would be unclear and difficult to interpret. Also, GNYHA acknowledges hospitals' responsibility to provide quality patient care and fully believes that the current mechanisms for ensuring hospitals' compliance with recognized standards of care are adequate. GNYHA, therefore, believes that this legislation is unnecessary.

• Mental Health Treatment Plans: A.2204, sponsored by Assemblyman James Brennan, passed the full Assembly and was referred to the Senate Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities on April 17. A.2204 would extend the same treatment plan requirements that currently apply to State-operated facilities to all facilities licensed or certified by the NYS Office of Mental Health. GNYHA opposes A.2204, as the need for this legislation is not clear. Treatment plans are already developed for all inpatients in Article 28 hospitals. Moreover, the requirements set by the current statute are appropriate for inpatients who are receiving long-term care. The same requirements, when applied to short-term, acute-care inpatient settings, are onerous and interfere with safe and efficient patient care.

• New York State Sharps Safety Act: A.7144-C, sponsored by Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin, passed the full Assembly on April 17 and was referred to the Senate Health Committee. This bill would require the development of regulations governing the use of needles in the health care industry to prevent and reduce sharp injuries by using safer technologies.

• Hearing-Impaired Patients: A.842, introduced by Assemblyman Steven Sanders, was referred to the full Assembly on April 17. A.842 requires DOH to develop regulations pertaining to hard-of-hearing hospital patients. GNYHA supports the general intent of this bill, but believes that the requirement to furnish a qualified interpreter, when necessary, duplicates existing State regulations and would be difficult to implement. GNYHA believes that existing law requiring hospitals to provide an interpreter for a hearing-impaired patient within 10 minutes in an emergency setting and within 20 minutes in regular inpatient and outpatient settings is sufficient.

• Whistle-Blower Protection: A.3089, introduced by Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, which would provide whistle-blower protection to employees of health facilities who provide information to the press and government officials concerning an alleged violation of law that creates a health or safety risk to the public, passed the full Assembly on April 17.

• Emergency Medical Services: A.3322, introduced by Assemblyman Roberto Ramirez, would provide for the revocation or suspension of an ambulance service certificate or advanced life support first-response service certificate in instances where a certificate holder has improperly requested information about an individual's health care coverage or denied services because of health care coverage. A.3322 was referred by the Assembly Rules Committee to the full Assembly on April 17.

• Scope of Practice of Nurse Practitioners: A.5100, sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, passed the full Assembly and was referred to the Senate Health Committee on April 17. When the Legislature authorized the practice of nurse practitioner in 1988 to include the ability to treat, diagnose, refer, and prescribe care, conforming changes to other statutes were not made. A.5100 would make these necessary changes to reflect the previously authorized scope of practice of nurse practitioners.

• Access to Medical Records: A.2590 would authorize guardians of incompetent persons and surrogates' court fiduciaries to be included as qualified persons eligible to request access to medical records when necessary for the performance of their responsibilities to the incompetent person. A.2590, sponsored by Assemblyman Vito Lopez, passed the full Assembly and was referred to the Senate Health Committee on April 17.

• Eye Screening of Newborn Infants: S.7287/A.10841 would require hospitals to establish programs for eye screening of certain newborn infants prior to discharge as well as establish a newborn eye-screening task force. S.7287, sponsored by Senator Dean Skelos, passed the Senate Health Committee on April 18 and was referred to the full Senate. A.10841 was introduced by Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn and was referred to the Health Committee in the Assembly on April 12.

• Extension of Medicaid Eligibility: S.7373/A.10220 would extend for one year, to July 1, 2001, the Office of Children and Family Services' authority to provide six months guaranteed Medicaid eligibility to welfare recipients enrolled in comprehensive health services plans. S.7373, introduced by Senator Kemp Hannon, passed the Senate Health Committee and was referred to the full Senate on April 18. A.10220, sponsored by Assemblyman Roberto Ramirez, was introduced and referred to the Assembly Social Services Committee on March 27.