BILL NUMBER: S1414

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:

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 provides the effective date.

 
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, the 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, deliv-
ering 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 midwif-
ery practice, developed in consultation with midwife professional stan-
dard-setting organizations. However, DOH, after years of stalling,
produced regulations that make it virtually impossible 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 organ-
ization 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, establishment, and operation of an MBC must not be
inconsistent with the standards 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:

2019-2020: S8307/A10440 Gottfried

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.