Senate Bill S8558

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8558

SPONSOR: RYAN C
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to mandating that
hospitals report cases involving poison to poison control centers

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To ensure that outbreaks and trends of poison cases are accurately
tracked in order to better prevent health based consequences.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends paragraph 2 of section 2805 of the public health law in
order to mandate that cases of poisoning which occur within the hospital
as well as those which have been presented to the hospital are reported
to the department.

Section 2 establishes the effective date.

              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Under current law, hospitals are required to report poisoning events
happening within the hospital to the Department of Health. However,
there is no statutory requirement for hospitals to report outside cases
presented to them directly to the Department of Health and Poison
Control Centers. This is a barrier which hampers the poison control
network's ability to accurately track trends and outbreaks.

This lack of communication delays coordinated responses, obscures emerg-
ing public health threats, and unnecessarily puts lives at risk.  Poison
Control Centers play a critical role in public health surveillance,
emergency response, and the prevention of poisoning-related injuries and
deaths. Timely reporting of poisoning cases allows these centers to
track trends in toxic exposures and identify emerging threats, provide
real-time guidance to healthcare providers on appropriate treatment and
decontamination protocols, and coordinate with public health agencies to
issue warnings or take preventive action when clusters of poisoning
cases occur. Mandating that hospitals report all poisoning cases to DOH
and Poison Control Centers will improve interagency coordination, accel-
erate response times, and enhance patient safety.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.