Senate Bill S6194

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S6194

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to repeal subdivision 11 of section 17 of the
public officers law relating to including certain physicians in
provisions of law relating to the defense and indemnification of state
officers and employees

 PURPOSE :

To amend the law to eliminate provisions exempting physicians who are
subject to the provisions of the plan for the management of clinical
practice income from state indemnification.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section one of the bill amends the public officers law deleting
paragraph eleven of section seventeen of the Public Officers Law.

Section two provides for an effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Current and former state officers, employees and volunteers in a
state-sponsored program, who are sued in their individual capacity in
a civil suit in state or federal court for acts or omissions
occurring, or alleged in the complaint to have occurred, within the
              

scope of their employment are entitled to have the State provide for
their defense under the terms and conditions of NYS Public Officers
Law § 17. As per Paragraph 11 of this law, physicians engaged in
clinical practice activity who are subject to the provisions of the
plan for the management of clinical practice income as set forth in
the policies of the board of trustees, title 8, are excluded from this
entitlement.

Many of these physicians are employed at the State University of New
York's medical schools and public-safety net medical centers as
faculty teachers and physicians treating patients. While the costs of
the services provided to these patients are often paid for by
Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, etc., these fees are generally
well below prevailing market rate reimbursement levels and they inure
to the benefit of the physicians' clinical practice plan. As such,
these physicians are providing treatment to the public without any
direct compensation, rather, their practice plans are receiving
reimbursements from which these physicians are paid their salaries as
physicians, which is well below that of private physicians in the
state. Furthermore, due to the current exclusion from protection under
the Public Officers Law, these physicians are required to procure
private medical professional liability (malpractice) insurance to
protect them personally for the service they are performing for the
public good without direct market-rate compensation. Medical
malpractice insurance rates in New York state are among the highest in
the country, further penalizing these under-compensated physicians
that provide a public good.

While physicians will still be required to carry personal malpractice
coverage for any private practice activities, physicians engaged in
serving the public at public safety-net medical facilities will now be
able to do so without personal risk as is fair and reasonable.  This
legislation will provide these public employees with protection under
the Public Officers Law in a manner consistent with the law as it is
intended. As a result, these changes will provide medical
professionals with more secure protection, while also benefiting
consumers who need protection and support should an unfortunate
medical event occur.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
None

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
April 1, 2018