Provides that hospital admission registration forms include the name of school attended by school-aged patients

Title of bill

An act to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring physicians and hospitals to obtain the name of the school attended by school-aged patients and to include this information in their admission registration forms

Purpose or general idea of bill

This bill provides that hospital, medical clinics, and private practice physicians' offices include a request for the name of the current school attendance of their patients.

Summary of specific provisions

This bill would add a new section 230-e to the public health law, to require physicians to request and record the name and address of the school attended by school-aged patients as part of the registration process and include that information in the patients' medical registration form.

This bill would additionally add a new section 2805-y to the public health law, to require hospitals and medical clinics to request, upon treatment of patients who are currently enrolled in school, the name of the school that said patient attends and to include the same in the patient's records.

Justification

The death of 12 year-old Omar Rivera, who attended I.S. 211 in Brooklyn, from the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA, and the increasing number of reported infected students across the state, illustrates the need for health practitioners to be more responsive in alerting the affected community of their potential exposure to infectious diseases, and of immediate preventative.

This bill seeks to do just that, in a responsive, responsible way.

Prior legislative history

This is a new bill

Fiscal implications

None Noted

Effective date

This act shall take effect one year after the date upon which it shall have become law.