BILL NUMBER: S7366

SPONSOR: PARKER
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the public health law, in relation to
medical residency training

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To require hospitals, which receive reimbursement for medical residency
training, to provide for training in all methods of family planning
including induced abortions except for residents with moral or religious
objections.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Amends Section 2801-h of the public health law. Any hospital which
receives reimbursement pursuant to the provisions of this article and
which offers allopathic or osteopathic medical resident training in
obstetrics, gynecology, family practice, internal medicine, or women's
health shall provide training which follows the Accreditation Council on
Graduate Medical Education Special Requirements for Obstetrics-Gynecolo-
              

gy or the American Osteopathic Association Special Requirements for
Obstetrics-Gynecology. The program must provide a structured didactic
and clinical training experience in all methods of family planning.

Experience with induced abortion must be part of residency training,
except for residents with moral or religious objections. This education
can be provided outside the institution. Experience with management of
complications of abortions must be provided to all residents. If a resi-
dency program has a religious, moral or legal restriction, which prohib-
its the residents from performing abortions within the institution, the
program must insure that the residents receive a satisfactory education
and experience managing the complications of abortion. Furthermore, such
residency programs must have mechanisms which insure that residents in
their program who do not have a religious or moral objection receive
education and experience in performing abortion at another institution.

Any hospital that fails to follow the provisions of this section shall
be ineligible for reimbursement under the provisions of this article.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

This legislation was prompted by the near disappearance of routine
abortion training from ob/gyn residency programs and the resultant
provider shortage that often impedes and sometimes prevents women from
exercising their basic right to terminate a pregnancy.

This legislation mirrors the unanimously adopted policy of the Accredi-
tation Council on Graduate Medical Education. This bill would provide a
fiscal penalty, lack of reimbursement, for a failure to provide the
required training.

Even though abortion services are more available in New York than in
other states, only 19% of our ob/gyn programs routinely train their
residents in the abortion procedure. Furthermore, we continue to witness
the results of the continuing shortage in our state: 25 counties have no
abortion provider, New York experienced the second highest numerical
loss of providers in the country from 1988-1992, and Planned Parenthood

of New York City reports having had to reschedule appointments when a
substitute provider cannot be found.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2015-16: A3693 referred to health
2013-14: A.3903 Referred to Health
2011-2012: A.2944 Referred to Health
2009-10: A.2715 Referred to Health
2007-08: A.2266 referred to Health
2005-06: A.5441 - Referred to Health
2003-04: A.947 - Referred to Health
2002: A.2411 - Reported from Health to Rules
2000: 5.2290 - Referred to Health/ A.4054 Referred to Health
1998: A.7081-A referred to Health

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of September next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law.