BILL NUMBER: S8307

SPONSOR: RIVERA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to accreditation,
approval, and operation of midwifery birth centers

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To ensure that the regulations governing the licensing, establishment,
and operation of midwifery birth centers are not inconsistent with the
Midwifery Practice Act or the standards of national accrediting bodies
specializing in midwifery birth centers.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends Public Health Law section 2803 subdivision 11 to:

- define "accrediting organization" in relation to midwifery birth
centers; an accrediting organization must be approved by the Department
              

of Health (DOH),

- provide that a proposed midwifery birth center that shows the intent
and capability to obtain and maintain accreditation by an accrediting
body shall be deemed to meet the Department of Health's requirements,
for purposes of initial licensing, for any areas that are addressed in
in the accrediting organization's standards,

- and make clear that DOH regulations may not be inconsistent with the
Midwifery Practice Act (Article 140 of the Education Law) or with the
standards addressed by the accrediting organization.

Section 2 is the effective date: immediate.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In 2016, the legislature amended Public Health Law Article 28 to promote
midwifery birth centers. Almost four years later, there is not a single
midwifery birth center (MBC) licensed under Article 28.  After several
years of delay, DOH produced regulations that, far from implementing the
law, make it virtually impossible for anyone to get a license for an
MBC. For decades, midwives have been authorized to create, control and
operate a freestanding practice and call it a "birth center," as long as
it operates as a midwife group practice, under a professional corpo-
ration or similar structure. However, organizing under Article 28 has
important advantages for obtaining financing and other operating
concerns. For the public, it makes the facility subject to DOH regu-
lations, inspection, control of ownership, etc.

For almost 30 years in New York, midwives have been a full-fledged
licensed profession, delivering babies in low-risk pregnancies and
treating birth as a normal healthy part of life, not as a medical event.
The intent of the 2016 law was that the implementing regulations should
be consistent with midwifery practice, developed in consultation with
midwife professional standard-setting organizations. However, DOH, after
years of stalling, produced regulations that make it virtually impossi-
ble for a midwifery birth center to be licensed.

This bill is largely modeled on the way New York regulates office-based
surgery practices. It would provide that if a proposed MBC meets the
standards of a national accrediting organization that specializes in
accrediting MBCs and is recognized by DOH, then the proposed MBC shall
be deemed to meet New York's requirements for issues covered by those
standards. Any DOH regulations related to the incorporation, establish-
ment, and operation of an MBC must not be inconsistent with the stand-
ards of the accrediting organization or the Midwifery Practice Act
(Article 140 of the Education Law).  New York is widely recognized to be
in a maternity care crisis, and we need to enable the professionals who
specialize in providing safe and effective maternity care to serve the
mothers of New York.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.