Assembly Actions -
Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE |
|
---|---|
Jan 08, 2014 |
referred to insurance |
Jun 11, 2013 |
referred to insurance |
Assembly Bill A7944
2013-2014 Legislative Session
Sponsored By
QUART
Archive: Last Bill Status - In Assembly Committee
- Introduced
-
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
-
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
-
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
- Delivered to Governor
- Signed By Governor
Actions
2013-A7944 (ACTIVE) - Details
2013-A7944 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ 7944 2013-2014 Regular Sessions I N A S S E M B L Y June 11, 2013 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. QUART -- read once and referred to the Committee on Insurance AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation to registration of office-based surgery facilities and payments for the use thereof THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds that New York state is home to approximately 1,000 accredited physician-owned ambulatory surgery facilities, referred to as Office-Based Surgery (OBS) practices, currently providing patient access to virtually all types of covered outpatient surgical procedures safely and at a lower cost compared to other settings, including traditional ambulatory surgery centers and hospitals. The legislature further finds that advances in medicine, including surgical techniques, equipment and improvements in anesthesia enable procedures to be performed safely, conveniently and at a much lower cost in an office-based setting. In fact, conservative estimates show physi- cian-owned ambulatory surgery facilities can achieve cost savings of 30%-40% as compared with other settings. The enviable safety record of the accredited OBS industry is also well established. The legislature also finds that like many states, New York is experi- encing a growing physician shortage. The problem is compounded for accredited office-based surgery facilities and the patients they treat by the recent refusal on the part of many third party payers to reim- burse facility costs for covered procedures. These expenses are substan- tial and include capital costs, equipment usage, supplies and overhead. The motives behind these denials are inexplicable given that this venue represents the lowest-cost provider. In fact, it was not long ago that insurers were consistently reimbursing OBS practices for their facility costs. Practitioners invested in their practices dependent on these established reimbursement practices. Without the mechanism to negotiate with the payers, these mostly small or solo practices lack the clout and market power to negotiate and convince insurers to reinstate reimburse- ment.
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