What's happening
This bill defines "qualified group practice" and allows such practices to operate malpractice prevention programs with confidentiality protections similar to hospitals.
Why it matters
Expands confidentiality protections. By treating qualified group practices as hospitals for malpractice prevention purposes, the bill ensures that internal discussions, records, and committee actions about malpractice prevention are kept confidential, making it safer for practitioners to openly discuss and address errors or risks.
Encourages proactive risk management. Qualified group practices can independently or collaboratively operate malpractice prevention programs, potentially reducing medical errors and liability by fostering a culture of continuous improvement and patient safety outside of the hospital setting.
Promotes collaboration without sacrificing privacy. The bill allows group practices to share confidential information with hospitals or accountable care organizations for malpractice prevention, facilitating coordinated risk management across the healthcare system while maintaining strong legal confidentiality protections.
Supports more robust peer review. By extending the legal protections hospitals receive for peer review and quality assurance activities to group practices, the bill could lead to more thorough and candid internal reviews, which may improve care standards and reduce the incidence of malpractice claims.
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Who cares
Medical, dental and podiatric group practices
Practices meeting the specified standards, except the governing board requirements, could qualify to operate malpractice prevention programs independently or collaboratively.
Hospitals and accountable care organizations
They could share confidential information with qualified group practices through lawful collaborative malpractice prevention arrangements without waiving confidentiality against others.
Practitioners participating in malpractice prevention committees
The bill would extend specified legal protections to qualified practices’ program records, committee actions and participants in committee proceedings.
Headline styles
Define Group Medical Practices
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Committed to rules
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.1488
- Referred to health
- Returned to senate
- Died in assembly
- Referred to codes
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 62–0
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
Show 2 earlier actions
- 1st report cal.718
- 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 Qualified Group Practices
In Assembly Committee · Codes · Sponsor Richard Gottfried
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3662
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 25, 2017
Introduced by Sen. HANNON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed 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.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to qualified group practices
Purpose
This bill would provide that a medical, dental or podiatric group practice that operates a malpractice prevention program that meets same standards of a hospital malpractice prevention program will have the same confidentiality and immunity protections.
Summary of provisions
Creates a new section 2998-f to provide that a qualified group practice may operate a malpractice prevention program directly, or through a collaborative arrangement with a hospital or accountable care organization, and share confidential information for the purpose of peer review and quality improvement.
Justification
Group practices have become the norm for physicians, dentists and podiatrists and range in size from small groups to large organizations with hundreds of practitioners. As groups have grown in size and sophistication, assuring quality of quality of care is no longer solely the obligation of an individual provider, but rather a group obligation to review outcomes and collaborate on improvements as a unified team.
Public Health Law § 2805-j requires every general hospital to maintain a malpractice prevention program that meet specific requirements. PHL § 2805-m protects the confidentiality of information, materials, documentation, actions and statements relating to such program, including peer review committee information (with exceptions), and protects participants from liability. Education Law § 6527.3 restates this protection. In 2011, the Legislature granted accountable care organizations similar authority by deeming them to be a "hospital" solely for purposes of malpractice prevention programs under PHL § 2805-m and Education Law § 6527.3. See PHL § 2999-r.
The rationale for protecting the confidentiality of peer review information was explained by the NYS Court of Appeals in Logue v. Velez, 92 NY2d 13 (1998): "...The purpose of the discovery exclusion is to 'enhance the objectivity of the review process',and to assure that medical review committees 'may and objectively analyze the quality of health services rendered' by hospitals...."
That same rationale should apply to a medical, dental or podiatric group practice that establishes a malpractice prevention program that meets standards set forth in PHL § 2805-j(a)-(g): (a) a quality assurance committee; (b) sanction procedures; (c) review of credentials and competence; (d) prompt resolution of patient grievances; (e) collection of information about negative outcomes, premiums, settlements, awards, etc.; (e) procedural recordkeeping; (g) education programs on patient safety, injury prevention, etc. Elsewhere, nearly half of states protect the confidentiality of peer review activities by medical group practices other than hospitals.
This bill will encourage group practices to meet these rigorous standards and improve patient care.
Legislative history
2015-2016: S.6080
Fiscal implications
None
Effective date
Immediately
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.