Let Complainants Meet Investigators

Section 1. Subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of subdivision 10 of section 230 of the public health law, as amended by chapter 11 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:

(i) (A) The board for professional medical conduct, by the director of the office of professional medical conduct, may investigate on its own any suspected professional misconduct, and shall investigate each complaint received regardless of the source. The director of the office of professional medical conduct, when requested by a complainant, shall meet with the complainant to review materials to be considered by the board in its review of suspected professional medical misconduct. By the conclusion of a preliminary review, including an internal clinical review, the director shall determine if a report is based solely upon the recommendation or provision of a treatment modality by a licensee that is not universally accepted by the medical profession, including but not limited to varying modalities used in the treatment of Lyme disease or other tick-borne diseases. Upon a determination by the director that a report is based solely upon the provision of a treatment modality that is not universally accepted, no further review shall be conducted and no charges shall be brought. Nothing in this section shall preclude the director from making such a determination earlier in, or subsequent to, a preliminary review. (B) The director of the office of professional medical conduct shall cause a preliminary review of every report made to the department pursuant to section twenty-eight hundred three-e as added by chapter eight hundred sixty-six of the laws of nineteen hundred eighty, sections twenty-eight hundred five-l and forty-four

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

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hundred five-b of this chapter, and section three hundred fifteen of the insurance law, to determine if such report reasonably appears to reflect physician conduct warranting further investigation pursuant to this subparagraph.

§ 2. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 10 of section 230 of the public health law, as amended by chapter 606 of the laws of 1991, is amended to read as follows:

(e) Committee hearing. The hearing shall be conducted by a committee on professional conduct. At least twenty-five percent of such committee shall be non-medical personnel. The members of the hearing committee shall be appointed by the chairperson of the board who shall designate the committee chairperson. In addition to said committee members, the commissioner shall designate an administrative officer, admitted to practice as an attorney in the state of New York, who shall have the authority to rule on all motions, including motions to compel disclosure of information or material claimed to be protected because of privilege or confidentiality, procedures and other legal objections and shall draft the conclusions of the hearing committee pursuant to paragraph (g) of this subdivision. The administrative officer shall have the authority to rule on objections to questions posed by either party or the committee members. The administrative officer shall not be entitled to vote.

§ 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have become a law. Provided, that effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized and directed to be made and completed by the commissioner of health on or before such effective date; and provided, further, that the amendments to subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of subdivision 10 of section 230 of the public health law made by section one of this act shall not affect the expiration of such paragraph and shall be deemed to expire therewith.