What's happening
This bill defines "qualified group practice" and allows such practices to operate malpractice prevention programs with certain legal protections and confidentiality.
Why it matters
Expands who can run malpractice prevention programs. By defining “qualified group practice” to include a range of medical, dental, and podiatric practices (not just hospitals), the bill allows more types of healthcare providers to set up their own internal systems for reducing malpractice risks.
Enhances collaboration while safeguarding confidentiality. The bill explicitly allows these group practices to share confidential information with hospitals or accountable care organizations for malpractice prevention, but ensures that such sharing doesn't compromise legal confidentiality protections with respect to outsiders (e.g., in lawsuits).
Grants legal protections equivalent to hospitals. By treating qualified group practices the same as hospitals under specific malpractice prevention and peer review statutes, the bill extends important legal immunities and confidentiality protections to these practices—potentially encouraging more robust error reporting and quality improvement.
May improve patient safety and reduce litigation. With more practices able to confidentially analyze and address medical errors or near misses, the bill could lead to safer care for patients and fewer malpractice claims, impacting the culture of safety and risk management across New York healthcare.
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Who cares
Medical, dental and podiatric group practices
Practices meeting the specified standards, except governing board requirements, could qualify to operate malpractice prevention programs independently or through lawful collaborations.
Hospitals and accountable care organizations
They could collaborate with qualified group practices and share confidential information for program purposes without waiving confidentiality against others.
Malpractice prevention committee participants
The bill would extend specified legal provisions governing hospital malpractice prevention programs to qualified practices’ records, committee actions and participants in committee proceedings.
Headline styles
Define Qualified Group Practices
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Referred to codes
- Reported referred to codes
- Referred to health
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Define Group Medical Practices
In Senate Committee · Rules · Sponsor Kemp Hannon
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2734
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 23, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. GOTTFRIED, SEPULVEDA -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to qualified group practices
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 2998-f to read as follows:
§ 2998-f. Qualified group practice. 1. For the purposes of this section, "qualified group practice" means a medical, dental or podiatric group practice or other lawful combination of such health care practitioners, licensed or certified pursuant to title eight of the education law, that meets the standards set forth in paragraphs (a) through (h) of subdivision one of section twenty-eight hundred five-j of this chapter, other than the governing board requirements of such paragraph (a).
2. A qualified group practice may operate a malpractice prevention program independently, or through an otherwise lawful collaborative arrangement with a hospital or accountable care organization program operated pursuant to section twenty-eight hundred five-j or twenty-nine hundred ninety-nine-r of this chapter, in which case the qualified group practice and the hospital or accountable care organization may share confidential information with each other for purposes of such practice without waiving confidentiality with respect to others.
3. A qualified group practice shall be deemed a hospital, and its malpractice prevention program shall be deemed a medical, dental and podiatric malpractice prevention program, for the purposes of subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred five-j, subdivision four of section twenty-eight hundred five-k and section twenty-eight hundred five-m of this chapter, and subdivision three of section sixty-five hundred twenty-seven of the education law. Such provisions of law shall apply to its information, records, documentation and committee actions, and to participants in committee proceedings.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02471-01-7
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.