NY State Senate Bill 2021-S5925

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Higher Education 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

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Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to higher education
Mar 23, 2021	referred to higher education

2021-S5925 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A1358
Current Committee:: Senate Higher Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§8504, 8507 & 8513, Ed L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2017-2018: A10798
2019-2020: A7304
2023-2024: S4497, A201
2025-2026: S6329, A236

2021-S5925 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to the license requirements for the practice of respiratory therapy.

2021-S5925 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S5925

SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to the license require-
ments for the practice of respiratory therapy

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To update the license requirements for respiratory therapy consistent
with current national standards.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Changes the educational requirement from an associate to a
bachelor's degree for licensure as a respiratory therapy.

Section 2: Grandfathers in any current licensee and students enrolled in
an approved associate degree program prior to the effective date for
their first licensure period.

Section 3: Ends the licensing of respiratory therapist technicians as
that licensing level is now obsolete.

Section 4: Establishes the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

This legislation will improve the health, safety and welfare of New York
citizens in need of respiratory therapy services by increasing the
educational standards for Respiratory Therapists (RTs) to a bachelor's
degree in keeping with best practices. Respiratory Therapists are
healthcare practitioners who play an integral part in diagnosing lung
and breathing disorders, consulting with physicians on treatments,
assessing patients, and recommending specific changes in therapy based
on their patient assessments. They are involved in analyzing data to
determine levels of oxygen, carbon dioxide and other physiological
parameters. Respiratory Therapists contribute heavily to managing
patients on a variety of advanced modes of mechanical ventilation and
artificial airway devices, and actively participate in rapid response
teams and emergency situations.

Respiratory Therapists also provide education to patients and their
families about how to best care for their cardiopulmonary disorders in
both the in-patient and outpatient care setting.  Respiratory Therapists
played a significant role in treating COVID-19 patients who were crit-
ically ill and those who required life support equipment such as mechan-
ical ventilation, high flow oxygen therapy or Extracorporeal Membrane
Oxygenation. Along with managing life support equipment, Respiratory
Therapists intubate patients, and are responsible for obtaining arterial
blood gases to help make critical parameter adjustments to patients on
life support equipment. With significant healthcare resource shortages
and a significant increase in critical care patient load during the
COVID-19 pandemic, it was imperative that Respiratory Therapists think
quickly and provide immediate critical care during this extremely diffi-
cult time.


New York first recognized the practice of respiratory therapy and
respiratory therapist technician as licensed professions in 1992.
Cardiopulmonary medicine, pharmaceutical treatment, and medical technol-
ogy have significantly advanced since 1992, as has the academic prepara-
tion and professional standards for Respiratory Therapists. A corre-
sponding advancement in educational requirement for licensure to a
bachelor's degree is necessary to ensure that future respiratory thera-
pists are adequately academically prepared for this expanding role.
Associate degree programs have a limited amount of time to properly
deliver the curriculum, while bachelor's degree programs have the abili-
ty for educational training and experience in more advanced clinical
practice, teaching, management, and research.This higher academic
requirement will ensure Respiratory Therapists are able to continue to
contribute to improving patient outcomes. Those individuals currently
licensed as Respiratory Therapists will be grandfathered under this
legislation, and the legislation includes a transition period of seven
years to allow those programs that are not currently at the bachelor's
degree level to transition to the higher standard.

In addition, this legislation eliminates the Respiratory Therapist Tech-
nician license for new applicants but allows previously issued licenses
to be renewed. The State no longer has one-year certificate programs for
Respiratory Therapist Technicians. In addition, a national educational
accrediting body report indicates that those individuals who were bacca-
laureate prepared had a greater passage rate for Registered Respiratory
Therapist credentialing than those who were associate degree prepared.
In 2020, the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC)
updated its "Entry into Professional Practice" standards to reflect the
minimum expectation goal of respiratory care practice performed by
Registered Respiratory Therapists (RRT), eliminating the previous stand-
ard which relied on the CRT exam success rate (for RTT license) as
outcome measurement for programs.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New senate bill

2019-2020: A.7304

2017-2018: A.10798

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately, provided the full legislation will not become effective for
seven years.

2021-S5925 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5925
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 23, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
 
 AN  ACT  to amend the education law, in relation to the license require-
   ments for the practice of respiratory therapy
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision  2  of  section 8504 of the education law, as
 added by chapter 817 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows:
   2. Education: have received an education, including completion  of  an
 approved  [associate]  BACHELOR degree program in respiratory therapy or
 in a program determined by the department to be the equivalent;
   § 2. Section 8507 of the education law is  amended  by  adding  a  new
 closing paragraph to read as follows:
   SUBDIVISION  TWO  OF  SECTION EIGHTY-FIVE HUNDRED FOUR OF THIS ARTICLE
 SHALL NOT APPLY TO ANY PERSON LICENSED AS A RESPIRATORY THERAPIST ON THE
 EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE CHAPTER OF THE LAWS  OF  TWO  THOUSAND  TWENTY-ONE
 THAT ADDED THIS PARAGRAPH.
   § 3. Section 8513 of the education law, as added by chapter 817 of the
 laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows:
   § 8513. Special  provisions.  1.  A  person  shall be licensed without
 examination provided that, within one year of the effective date of this
 article, the individual:
   [1.](A) files an application and pays  the  appropriate  fees  to  the
 department; and
   [2.  (a)](B)(1)  is  certified by a national certifying or accrediting
 board for respiratory therapy technicians acceptable to the  department,
 or
   [(b)](2) has practiced as a respiratory therapy technician in a hospi-
 tal, as defined in article twenty-eight of the public health law, in the
 state for not less than two years within the last five years, or

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01805-03-1

 S. 5925                             2
 
   [(c)](3)  has  met the educational standards of a hospital, as defined
 in article twenty-eight of the public health law, or, in the case  of  a
 hospital  operated  by  a public benefit corporation, has met the educa-
 tional standards of such corporation, and has practiced as a respiratory
 therapy technician for at least one year in such hospital.
   2.  THE  DEPARTMENT  SHALL  NOT ACCEPT NEW APPLICATIONS FOR AN INITIAL
 LICENSE AS A  RESPIRATORY  THERAPY  TECHNICIAN,  PROVIDED  HOWEVER  THAT
 LICENSES ISSUED PRIOR TO THAT DATE SHALL BE ELIGIBLE FOR RENEWAL SUBJECT
 TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION.
   §  4.  This  act shall take effect immediately; provided that sections
 one and two of this act shall take effect on the first of  September  in
 the  seventh year next succeeding the year in which it shall have become
 a law and shall only apply to the issuance of initial licenses, with the
 exception that any individual enrolled in an approved  associate  degree
 program in respiratory therapy or in a program determined by the depart-
 ment  to  be  the equivalent as of the first of September in the seventh
 year next succeeding the year in which this act shall have become a  law
 may receive an initial license upon graduation from the associate degree
 program,  but at the conclusion of the initial triennial licensure peri-
 od, such individual must have completed a  bachelor  degree  program  in
 respiratory  therapy  or a program to be determined by the department to
 be the equivalent as a condition of renewing their license.

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Senate Bill S5925

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Higher Education Committee

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2021-S5925 (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S5925 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S5925 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S5925 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

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Sponsored By

Andrew Gounardes

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Higher Education Committee

Actions

2021-S5925 (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S5925 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S5925 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S5925 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments