Senate Bill S2278A

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S2278A

SPONSOR: WEBB
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring general
hospitals to have a registered professional nurse as a sitting and
voting member of the governing entity responsible for developing the
general hospital's strategic plan, structure, systems, policies and
programs

 
PURPOSE:

Requires hospitals to have a registered professional nurse as a sitting
and voting member of the governing entity responsible for developing a
hospital's strategic plan, structure, systems,policies and programs

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends public health law section 2801-a to add new subdivision
17, which would require hospitals to have at least one registered
professional nurse as a sitting and voting member of the hospital's
              

governing entity. The 'A' print adds the term "general" before "hospi-
tal" to provide more clarity which health care facilities that this
legislation would apply to.

Section 2 provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The nursing profession includes a diverse group of professionals commit-
ted to serving patients, families, and communities and is ideally suited
to bring unique perspectives to the boardroom. Nurses are on the front-
line of providing care and possess a wide range of competencies in qual-
ity care and patient safety, strategic planning, critical thinking,
communications, human resources, finance, and complex problem solving
leading to improved patient outcomes and positive impacts for hospitals.
Without nursing representation, boards miss the insight of the most
trusted profession. This bill would require the governing bodies of
hospitals to include at least one registered professional nurse from the
community as a sitting and voting member of the hospital's governing
body. It is to our detriment as a state if those perspectives are not
considered fulfilling the strategic goals, developing hospital reputa-
tion and the overall performance of the hospital.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None to the State.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect one hundred and eighty days after it becomes
law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any
rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its
effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such
effective date.