What's happening
This bill extends the waiting period for workers to seek medical treatment outside a preferred provider organization from 30 to 120 days.
Why it matters
Longer wait to choose your own doctor. Injured workers must now wait 120 days—four times longer than before—before they can leave their employer’s preferred provider network for medical treatment, potentially delaying access to a doctor of their own choice.
Impact on medical care quality and worker autonomy. This change may limit workers’ ability to seek second opinions or alternative treatments outside the employer’s network for a significantly longer period, possibly affecting satisfaction and outcomes.
Employer leverage in treatment decisions. Employers retain the right to require a second opinion from their preferred provider network even after the extended waiting period, further maintaining influence over the worker’s care pathway.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Extend Out-of-Network Waiting Period
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to labor
- Referred to labor
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.
Limit Out-of-Network Care Access
In Assembly Committee · Labor · Sponsor John T. McDonald III
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4345
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 10, 2017
Introduced by Sen. AMEDORE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to seeking medical treatment from outside the preferred provider organization
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 354 of the workers' compensation law, as added by chapter 635 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read as follows:
2. An employee may seek medical treatment from outside the preferred provider organization [thirty] one hundred twenty days after his or her first visit to a preferred provider organization provider. In the event that such employee seeks medical treatment outside the preferred provider organization the employer may require a second opinion from a provider within the preferred provider organization.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07662-02-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to seeking medical treatment from outside the preferred provider organization
Purpose
This bill provides that and employee may seek medical treatment from a provider outside the preferred provider organization (PPO) 120 days after his or her first visit to a PPO provider. Current law allows seeking care outside the PPO after 30 days.
Summary of provisions
Section 1: Amends subdivision 2 of section 354 of the workers' compensation law, as added by chapter 635 of the laws of 1996, to allow an employee to seek medical treatment from outside the preferred provider organization (PPO) one-hundred-twenty days after their first visit to a PPO provider.
Section 2: Sets the effective date.
Justification
Providing the best care for injured workers thus allowing them to heal and return to work as soon as possible should be the primary goal of New York's Workers' Compensation system. Extending the period during which an injured worker is directed to care inside a preferred provider network (PPO) is anticipated to lead to a number of benefits including:
*Immediate medical treatment by medical professionals specifically trained in occupational medicine; *No need for acquiring permissions or variances for treatments; *Speedier treatment, healing and return to work; *Increased employee satisfaction with care; *Reduced controversies over treatments, paper work and hearings at the Workers' Compensation Board.
Legislative history
This is a new bill.
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Effective date
Ninety days after it becomes law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.