§ 2506. Obstetric and pediatric practitioner incentive demonstration
program. 1. There is hereby established in the department the obstetric
and pediatric practitioner incentive demonstration program, to provide
financial support for obstetric practitioners providing prenatal and
obstetric services to medically needy women and to pediatric
practitioners serving children up to one year of age, to assist them in
paying for professional liability insurance coverage related to those
services, within amounts appropriated for that purpose.

2. As used in this section, the following terms shall have the
following meanings:

(a) "Obstetric practitioner". A physician who is board certified or an
active candidate for board certification in obstetrics, a physician who
is board certified, or eligible for board certification, in family
practice and provides obstetric services, a certified nurse midwife, or
an obstetric nurse practitioner.

(b) "Pediatric practitioner". A physician who is board certified, or
eligible for board certification, in pediatrics or a pediatric nurse
practitioner.

(c) "Prenatal and obstetric services to medically needy women" and
"pediatric services for children up to one year of age". Prenatal and
obstetric services provided by an obstetric practitioner, and pediatric
services for children up to one year of age, in private individual or
group practice, or comprehensive diagnostic and treatment centers
pursuant to article twenty-eight of this chapter, to women and children
(i) through the prenatal care assistance program, or the medical
assistance program under the social services law; or (ii) through a
program approved by the commissioner under this section, under which the
services are provided without remuneration to the practitioner for his
or her services; or (iii) who are not covered for these services by
subparagraph (i) of this paragraph or by private health insurance.

3. The commissioner is authorized to contract with obstetric and
pediatric practitioners to provide financial support for the costs they
bear for their professional liability insurance coverage, to the extent
that the cost is reasonably related or proportional to the amount of
prenatal and obstetric and pediatric services to medically needy women
and children up to one year of age the practitioner provides in
proportion to the total amount of prenatal, obstetric and pediatric
services the practitioner provides.

4. Prenatal and obstetric services and pediatric services for children
up to one year of age provided without remuneration to the obstetrical
or pediatric practitioner, for the purposes of this section, shall be
provided as part of a program administered by a general hospital (as
defined in article twenty-eight of this chapter) or a city or county
health department, approved by the commissioner.

5. The commissioner shall establish regulations, standards and
procedures for the obstetric and pediatric practitioner incentive
demonstration program, including but not limited to quality assurance,
the services to be provided, and the provision or records and
information by obstetric and pediatric practitioners applying for or
receiving support under this section.

6. In making contracts under this section, the commissioner shall
consider the extent to which the support will increase, maintain and
improve the accessibility and quality of prenatal and obstetric services
to medically needy women and pediatric services to children up to one
year of age, and shall assure that support is reasonably distributed
geographically throughout urban and rural areas of the state.

7. On or before February first, nineteen hundred ninety-two, the
commissioner shall submit to the governor and the chairs of the assembly
and senate committees on health a report on the operation and
effectiveness of the obstetric and pediatric practitioner incentive
demonstration program, including any recommendations the commissioner
deems appropriate.