NY State Senate Bill S8978

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

Introduced
In Committee
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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Sep 16, 2020	referred to rules

S8978 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A9670
Current Committee:: Senate Rules
Law Section:: Mental Hygiene Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §33.23, Ment Hyg L
Versions Introduced in 2021-2022 Legislative Session:: A7163

S8978 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to the provision of incident reports to qualified persons and the manner of delivery of such reports.

S8978 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

 
BILL NUMBER: S8978

SPONSOR: CARLUCCI
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to providing inci-
dent reports to qualified persons

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this legislation is to amend the incident notification
and reporting system

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends section 33.23 of mental hygiene law to require a facil-
ity to provide information regarding an incident within 10 days of a
request

Section 2 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Mental Hygiene Law requires that parents and guardians of people with
developmental disabilities who live in facilities operated, licensed, or
certified by OPWDD, or OASAS to receive a notification via phone call of
an accident or injury that affects the health or safety of a patient
within twenty-four hours of the incident being reported. The law also
provides these loved ones access to the incident report and any follow
up records on actions taken concerning abuse allegations and mandates
the Director of facilities to offer the opportunity to react to discuss
the incident.

In July of 2019, the State Comptroller's office conducted a review of
incidents reported at OMH facilities over the period of April, 1, 2015
to January 9, 2019 to determine if OMH was in compliance with these
requirements. The Comptroller determined that, because of a misinterpre-
tation of the policy, the only action routinely undertaken by OMH was
providing notification of an incident to qualified persons via telephone
within 24 hours of a report being filed. The families were not being
offered the opportunity to meet to discuss the incident or receive
copies of written reports unless they specifically requested it.

This bill provides clarifying language, which will prevent further
misinterpretations and boost compliance across all state government
facilities subject to the law's provisions. This will improve patient
safety and health by ensuring the proper steps are being taken following
an incident to notify those that should be aware an incident occurred.

Finally, this bill brings the law into the 21st century by allowing
records to be delivered electronically. This added convenience will help
support compliance and may drastically cut down on the time parents,
guardians, and other qualified persons typically have to wait to under-
stand the incident their loved one experienced.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None to state

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

S8978 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8978
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                            September 16, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. CARLUCCI -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to  providing  inci-
   dent reports to qualified persons
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. Subdivision (a) of section 33.23 of the mental hygiene law,
 as added by chapter 24 of the laws  of  2007,  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   (a)  The  director  of  a  facility,  as defined in subdivision six of
 section 1.03 of this chapter, shall provide telephone notice of an inci-
 dent involving a patient receiving care and treatment at  such  facility
 to a qualified person, as defined in paragraph six of subdivision (a) of
 section  33.16  of  this  article.  Such notice shall be provided within
 twenty-four hours of the  initial  report  of  such  incident.  For  the
 purposes  of  this  section, "incident" shall mean an accident or injury
 that affects the health or safety of a patient. Upon the  request  of  a
 qualified  person, the director shall [promptly] WITHIN TEN DAYS OF SUCH
 REQUEST, provide to [him or her] THE QUALIFIED  PERSON  a  copy  of  the
 written  incident  report,  provided that the names and other personally
 identifying information of patients and employees shall not be  included
 unless  such  patients and employees authorize disclosure[. The director
 of the facility shall also], offer to hold a meeting with such qualified
 person to further discuss the incident[. In addition, within  ten  days,
 the  director  of the facility shall], AND provide such qualified person
 with a written report on the actions taken to address the incident.  THE
 DIRECTOR  MAY OFFER TO PROVIDE ALL REPORTS TO THE QUALIFIED PERSON ELEC-
 TRONICALLY.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD14973-01-0

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senate Bill S8978

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

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S8978 (ACTIVE) - Details

S8978 (ACTIVE) - Summary

S8978 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

S8978 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

senate Bill S8978

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Sponsored By

David Carlucci

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

Your Voice

Actions

S8978 (ACTIVE) - Details

S8978 (ACTIVE) - Summary

S8978 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

S8978 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments