NY State Senate Bill 2021-S6341

Senate Bill S6341

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Requires hospitals which reserved beds for patients with behavioral or mental health issues or substance use disorder prior to COVID-19 to provide such beds after the expiration of the disaster emergency

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Health Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to health
Apr 22, 2021	referred to health

2021-S6341 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Health
Law Section:: Public Health

2021-S6341 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires hospitals which reserved beds for patients with behavioral or mental health issues or substance use disorder prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to continue to provide such beds to such patients after the expiration of the state disaster emergency declared pursuant to executive order number 202; requires the commissioner of health to notify the bill drafting commission upon the expiration of the state disaster emergency.

2021-S6341 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S6341            Revised 5/18/2021

SPONSOR: HINCHEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act requiring hospitals which reserved beds for patients with behav-
ioral or mental health issues or substance use disorder prior to the
COVID-19 pandemic to continue to provide such beds to such patients
after the expiration of the state disaster emergency declared pursuant
to executive order number 202

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this bill is to require hospitals which reserved beds for
patients with behavioral or mental health issues or medically supervised
detoxification services prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.to continue to
provide such beds to such patients after the expiration of the state
disaster emergency

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Requires behavioral and mental health beds and medically
supervised detoxification services to be returned to hospitals at
pre-COVID levels after the state disaster emergency is dissolved.
Provides for penalties if this law is not adhered to.

Section 2: Effective Date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit New York, the executive order suspending
regulatory procedures required by the Department of Health to make quick
adjustments and scale up their bed capacity to meet the emergent demand
related to the COVID-19 pandemic response. The Executive also created
capacity requirements regionally as hospitals began to resume normal
operations as COVID-19 cases began to trend downward.

It is in this temporarily deregulated climate that our acute care
providers have begun to make changes to their services that signal a
possible prelude to permanent closures on inpatient behavioral health
beds and medically supervised detoxification services. It is currently
being done under the guise of adhering to current executive orders, but
our communities deserve to know that these services will be returning to
their local hospitals upon the dissolution of the COVID-19 state of
emergency services.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the 30th day after the expiration of the
state disaster emergency declared in executive order 202.

2021-S6341 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6341
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              April 22, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. HINCHEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
 
 AN ACT requiring hospitals which reserved beds for patients with  behav-
   ioral  or  mental health issues or substance use disorder prior to the
   COVID-19 pandemic to continue to provide such beds  to  such  patients
   after the expiration of the state disaster emergency declared pursuant
   to executive order number 202
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. In order to ensure that the state has adequate bed capacity
 for patients with behavioral or mental health issues  or  substance  use
 disorder,  all  hospital  beds  which  were  reserved for patients being
 admitted or observed for behavioral or  mental  health  issues  or  need
 medically  supervised  detoxification  services  prior  to  the COVID-19
 pandemic and which were subsequently allocated for other purposes  as  a
 result  of Executive Order No. 202 of 2020 or any amendment or modifica-
 tion of such executive order shall return to being reserved for patients
 being admitted or observed for behavioral or mental health or  substance
 use  disorder issues upon the expiration of the state disaster emergency
 declared pursuant to such executive order and any further amendments  or
 modifications  thereto,  and  as  may  be  further  extended pursuant to
 section 28 of the executive law.   Any hospital which  fails  to  comply
 with  the  requirements of this section upon the expiration of the state
 disaster emergency declared by Executive Order No. 202 and  any  further
 amendments  or  modifications  thereto,  and  as may be further extended
 pursuant to section 28 of the  executive  law,  shall  be  fined  up  to
 $500,000  as  determined by the commissioner of the department of health
 or denied the issuance of a certificate of need.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after the expira-
 tion of the declared state of emergency relating to the novel  coronavi-
 rus  (COVID-19);  provided, that the commissioner of health shall notify
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD10881-04-1

 S. 6341                             2
 
 the legislative bill drafting commission  upon  the  occurrence  of  the
 expiration  of  the state disaster emergency declared by executive order
 number 202 and any further amendments or modifications, and  as  may  be
 further  extended  pursuant to section 28 of the executive law, in order
 that the commission may maintain an accurate and timely  effective  data
 base of the official text of the laws of the state of New York in furth-
 erance  of  effectuating the provisions of section 44 of the legislative
 law and section 70-b of the public officers law.

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