What's happening
This bill creates a central registry of medical personnel terminated for cause, requiring medical facilities to report such terminations.
Why it matters
Greater oversight of healthcare workforce. By tracking terminations for cause (including those who resign or retire to avoid being terminated), the registry aims to help medical facilities avoid hiring individuals with histories of misconduct, incompetence, or other serious issues.
Standardized reporting and transparency. The law mandates prompt reporting (within 15 days) by all medical facilities, creating uniformity and reducing the risk of problematic personnel moving undetected between employers.
Balancing privacy and protection. While the registry collects sensitive information (names, SSNs, reasons for termination, criminal charges), it also includes legal safeguards to maintain confidentiality and restrict access solely to legitimate, regulated inquiries by medical facilities.
Potential impact on hiring and employment. The existence of such a registry could deter problematic behavior among medical staff, but it may also raise concerns about due process, fairness, and the potential for long-term reputational harm to individuals listed, even if they were not criminally charged.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Track Fired Medical Workers
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Held for consideration in health
- Referred to health
- Referred to health
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1576
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 12, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. HAWLEY, FINCH -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BARCLAY, CROUCH, McDONOUGH, OAKS, SALADINO, THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to establishing a central registry of medical personnel terminated for cause
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2827 to read as follows:
§ 2827. Central state registry of employees of medical facilities terminated for cause. 1. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the department is authorized to and shall establish and maintain a central state registry identifying personnel employed by medical facilities within the state who have been terminated from their employment by a medical facility for cause. The registry shall maintain such information as the commission requires, including, at a minimum, the name, address, date of birth, and social security number of each person so terminated, the name, address and telephone number of the terminating facility, the date and reasons for the termination, and, to the extent known by the medical facility, whether criminal charges were filed against the person terminated. The department shall continue to maintain in the registry the information required to be kept pursuant to this section for employees of medical facilities for a period of not less than five years following termination, resignation or retirement, or failure to be hired or renewed at which time the department shall purge from the registry such information.
2. Each medical facility shall transmit the requisite information, in such form as is prescribed by the commissioner, to the department, no later than the fifteenth calendar day following the termination of employment of any person who was terminated for cause or any person who retired or resigned in order to avoid termination.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02291-01-7
A. 1576 2
3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, medical facilities shall, upon such terms and conditions as the department shall by rules and regulations prescribe, have timely access to information contained in the registry for the purpose of making such inquiries regarding persons who are presently employed by the medical facility or who have applied for employment with the medical facility.
4. The information required to be submitted pursuant to this section which is required by law to be kept confidential shall be kept confidential and all other information shall be released only pursuant to the provisions of this section. The department shall establish rules and regulations to provide for a permanent system which will ensure the security and privacy of information contained in the registry and to ensure that such information is made available only for legitimate purposes to qualified medical facilities as provided in this section.
5. As used in this section, "medical facility" means any hospital, nursing home or residential health care facility as defined in section twenty-eight hundred one of this article or a home care service agency or limited home care service agency as defined in section thirty-six hundred two of this chapter.
§ 2. This act shall take effect January 1, 2019.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.