NY State Senate Bill 2009-S1335

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Codes 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

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 06, 2010	referred to codes
Jan 28, 2009	referred to codes

co-Sponsors

2009-S1335 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Codes
Law Section:: Penal Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §176.00, add §176.40, Pen L
Versions Introduced in 2011-2012 Legislative Session:: S2004

2009-S1335 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Establishes the class E felony of unlawful procurement of clients, patients or customers for knowingly acting as a runner, or using, soliciting, directing, hiring or employing another person to act as a runner; a "runner" is defined as a person, who knowingly, for profit, seeks to procure clients, patients or customers on behalf of an attorney or health care provider for the purpose of falsely or fraudulently obtaining benefits under a contract of insurance or asserting a claim against an insurer or insured for the services provided by such attorney or health care provider.

2009-S1335 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S1335

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to establishing the class E
felony of unlawful procurement of clients, patients or customers


 PURPOSE :
To make the use of "runners" illegal in New York.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :
Amends article 176 of the Penal Law as follows:  Section one of the
bill adds three new definitions to Section 176.00.  defining
"provider". "public media" and "runner." A "runner" is defined as a
person who. for a pecuniary benefit. procurers or attempts to procure
a client. patient. or customer at the direction of. request of or in
cooperation with a provider whose purpose is to seek to obtain
benefits under a contract of insurance or assert a claim against an
insured or an insurance carrier for providing services to the client,
patient or customer.

Section two of the bill adds a new section 176.40 to the Penal Law to
make it a class E felony to use or act as a runner.

Section three of the bill provides for an effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :
On July 15, 1999 Governor Christie Whitman of New Jersey signed into
law legislation making it a crime to act as a runner or to solicit or
employ a runner to procure clients. This law was a result of
recommendations by that state's Governor's Task Force on Health Care
Fraud.

This legislation is patterned on that law. The use of runners is a
practice which facilitates fraud and serves no legitimate purpose. A
runner is defined as a person who receives a pecuniary benefit for
procuring or attempting to procure clients. patients or customers for
a provider whose purpose is to obtain benefits under an insurance
contract for providing services. Because most fraud schemes depend on
a large volume of patients. health care providers and attorneys
engaged in fraud will often pay third parties for recruiting clients,
patients and customers. Often the client, patient or customer receives
inadequate or inappropriate care and services.

The use of runners is unfortunately common in the New York
metropolitan area. In addition to inadequate medical care, the use of
runners inflates the cost of insurance which, in turn, is borne by the
insuring public. This bill makes it illegal for a provider to payor
offer to pay a pecuniary benefit to a runner. Soliciting clients
through the public media and referring clients, patients and customers
to a provider as is otherwise authorized by law is excluded from the
prohibitions under this bill. The tem1S of this proposal are
consistent with the Bar Association's Canon of Ethics regarding
referrals.

This bill makes it a class E felony to act as a runner or hiring
another person to act as a runner.

 COST TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS :
None.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
2007/2008 - S.637 - Passed Senate /Assembly Codes
2005/2006 - S.487 - Passed Senate/Assembly Codes
2003/2004 - S.555 - Passed Senate/Assembly Codes
2001/2002 - S.123 - Passed Senate/Assembly Codes
2000 - S.6781-B - Passed Senate/Assembly Rules

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding
the date on which it shall have become a law.

2009-S1335 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  1335

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            January 28, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  SKELOS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes

AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to establishing the  class  E
  felony of unlawful procurement of clients, patients or customers

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Section 176.00 of the penal law is amended by adding  three
new subdivisions 6, 7 and 8 to read as follows:
  6.  "PROVIDER" MEANS AN ATTORNEY, A HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL, AN OWNER
OR OPERATOR OF A HEALTH  CARE  PRACTICE  OR  FACILITY,  ANY  PERSON  WHO
CREATES  THE  IMPRESSION  THAT  HE  OR  SHE,  OR HIS OR HER PRACTICE CAN
PROVIDE LEGAL OR HEALTH CARE SERVICES, OR ANY PERSON EMPLOYED OR  ACTING
ON BEHALF OF ANY SUCH PERSON.
  7.  "PUBLIC  MEDIA" MEANS TELEPHONE DIRECTORIES, PROFESSIONAL DIRECTO-
RIES, NEWSPAPERS AND OTHER  PERIODICALS,  RADIO  AND  TELEVISION,  BILL-
BOARDS,  AND MAILED OR ELECTRONICALLY TRANSMITTED WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
THAT DO NOT  INVOLVE  IN-PERSON  CONTACT  WITH  A  SPECIFIC  PROSPECTIVE
CLIENT, PATIENT, OR CUSTOMER.
  8.  "RUNNER"  MEANS A PERSON WHO, FOR A PECUNIARY BENEFIT, PROCURES OR
ATTEMPTS TO PROCURE A CLIENT, PATIENT OR CUSTOMER AT THE  DIRECTION  OF,
REQUEST  OF  OR IN COOPERATION WITH A PROVIDER WHEN SUCH PERSON KNOWS OR
HAS REASON TO KNOW THAT THE PURPOSE OF  SUCH  PROVIDER  IS  TO  SEEK  TO
FALSELY  OR FRAUDULENTLY: OBTAIN BENEFITS UNDER A CONTRACT OF INSURANCE;
OR ASSERT A CLAIM AGAINST AN INSURED OR AN INSURANCE CARRIER FOR PROVID-
ING SERVICES TO THE CLIENT, PATIENT OR CUSTOMER.  SUCH  TERM  SHALL  NOT
INCLUDE  A  PERSON WHO PROCURES OR ATTEMPTS TO PROCURE CLIENTS, PATIENTS
OR CUSTOMERS FOR A PROVIDER THROUGH PUBLIC MEDIA OR A PERSON WHO  REFERS
CLIENTS,  PATIENTS  OR  CUSTOMERS AS AUTHORIZED BY LAW.  NOTHING IN THIS
ARTICLE SHALL BE DEEMED TO PROHIBIT AN AGENT, BROKER OR  EMPLOYEE  OF  A
HEALTH  MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATION FROM SEEKING TO SELL HEALTH MAINTENANCE

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD03379-01-9

S. 1335                             2

ORGANIZATION COVERAGE OR HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE TO AN  INDIVIDUAL  OR
GROUP.
  S  2.  The penal law is amended by adding a new section 176.40 to read
as follows:
S 176.40 UNLAWFUL PROCUREMENT OF CLIENTS, PATIENTS OR CUSTOMERS.
  A PERSON IS GUILTY OF UNLAWFUL PROCUREMENT  OF  CLIENTS,  PATIENTS  OR
CUSTOMERS WHEN, HE OR SHE KNOWINGLY:
  1. ACTS AS A RUNNER; OR
  2.  USES, SOLICITS, DIRECTS, HIRES OR EMPLOYS ANOTHER PERSON TO ACT AS
A RUNNER.
  UNLAWFUL PROCUREMENT OF CLIENTS, PATIENTS OR CUSTOMERS IS  A  CLASS  E
FELONY.
  S 3. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
ing the date on which it shall have become a law.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Find your Senator and share your views on important issues.

Do you support this bill?

Senate Bill S1335

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Codes Committee

Actions

co-Sponsors

2009-S1335 (ACTIVE) - Details

2009-S1335 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2009-S1335 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2009-S1335 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Do you support this bill?

Get Status Alerts for 2009-S1335

Senate Bill S1335

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Dean G. Skelos

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Codes Committee

Actions

co-Sponsors

Martin J. Golden

2009-S1335 (ACTIVE) - Details

2009-S1335 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2009-S1335 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2009-S1335 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments