What's happening
This bill creates a workgroup to review and recommend reforms for office-based surgery practices in New York State.
Why it matters
Comprehensive Review of Office-Based Surgery. The workgroup will analyze the growth, distribution, and types of office-based surgery practices across New York, comparing them to other outpatient settings. This could uncover regional disparities and evolving trends in surgical care that may impact patient access and healthcare equity.
Focus on Patient Outcomes and Costs. By examining scientific research, patient outcomes, reimbursement rates, and actual costs, the workgroup aims to identify how current practices affect both health outcomes and what patients and insurers pay. This could lead to recommendations that improve safety, affordability, or both.
Diverse Stakeholder Involvement. The group will include representatives from the surgery industry, health plans, accreditation agencies, physicians, and consumers—ensuring that multiple perspectives, including patient voices, are considered in shaping future policies.
Potential Impact on Future Laws and Regulations. The workgroup’s findings and recommendations will be reported to state leaders and could directly influence new legislation or regulatory changes, potentially leading to significant reforms in how office-based surgeries are regulated, reimbursed, and accessed in New York.
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Headline styles
Study Office Surgery Reform
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to health
- 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.
Review Office Surgery Rules
In Assembly Committee · Health · Sponsor Kevin Cahill
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5479
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 2, 2019
Introduced by Sen. RIVERA -- 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 convening an office-based surgery workgroup to make recommendations regarding appropriate reforms or policy changes necessary and in the best interest of the public
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 230-e to read as follows:
§ 230-e. Office-based surgery workgroup. 1. An office-based surgery workgroup shall be convened and shall consist of nine members appointed by the governor. Two members shall be appointed on the recommendation of the speaker of the assembly and two members shall be appointed on the recommendation of the temporary president of the senate and shall consist of two representatives of the office-based surgery industry, one representative of health plans, one representative of the accreditation agencies, one representative of a statewide society representing physicians and two consumers and shall be co-chaired by the superintendent of financial services and the commissioner. Such representatives of the workgroup must represent different regions of the state. The members shall receive no compensation for their services but shall be allowed their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties.
2. The workgroup shall review the history of office-based surgery since enactment of accreditation requirements for office-based surgery entities pursuant to section two hundred thirty-d of this title and any impacts including trends, upwards or downwards, in size, specialty and geographic distribution of office-based surgery practices and comparisons with other out-patient surgical settings especially related to patient access, safety and rates of reimbursement paid by health plans.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03126-01-9
S. 5479 2
Based on this review, such workgroup shall make recommendations regarding appropriate reforms or policy changes necessary and in the best interest of the public and considering the following factors:
(a) current scientific or medical research directly examining officebased surgery and patient outcomes;
(b) trends in access to out-patient surgical care;
(c) trends in reimbursement rates for out-patient surgical care across all settings and the actual costs of out-patient surgical care;
(d) regional differences regarding access and costs;
(e) the impact rates of reimbursement across settings have on consumers who access out-patient surgery services;
(f) the impact rates of reimbursement across settings have on health plan premium costs;
(g) patient claims data from all health plans both public and private as well as charge data from medical professionals and hospitals available through the all payer database and office-based surgery related data required pursuant to section two hundred thirty-d of this title; and
(h) other issues deemed appropriate by members of the workgroup and either the superintendent of financial services or the commissioner.
3. The workgroup shall review the availability of out-patient surgery services in terms of patient access and cost by region of the state and make recommendations taking into consideration the following factors:
(a) the extent to which office-based surgery is available in each region in this state;
(b) the extent to which and diversity of specialties in office-based surgery is available in every region in this state, including the most common specialties and subspecialty services; and
(c) other issues deemed appropriate by the members of the workgroup and either the superintendent of financial services or the commissioner.
4. The workgroup shall report its findings and make recommendations for legislation and regulations to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, the senate majority leader, the chairs of the insurance and health committees in both the assembly and the senate, and the superintendent of financial services no later than April first, two thousand twenty.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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 convening an office-based surgery workgroup to make recommendations regarding appropriate reforms or policy changes necessary and in the best interest of the public
Purpose
To amend the Public Health Law, in relation to creating an office-based surgery workgroup and gathering interested stakeholders across various constituencies for the purpose of providing recommendations on preserv- ing patient access to the office-based surgery setting. SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill establishes an office-based surgery workgroup of nine members to be appointed by the governor; two members shall be appointed on the recommendation of the speaker of the assembly and two members shall be appointed on the recommendation of the temporary presi- dent of the senate. The workgroup will review the history of the office-based surgery industry in this state since the adoption of the accreditation law, and the impact this law has had on the number and distribution of OBS entities, patient access, rates of reimbursement, as well as industry trends and comparisons with respect to cost, access and scientific data regarding patient outcomes. The workgroup will be charged with making recommendations to the legislature related to their findings and the future of office-based surgery in this state. The work- group will submit a report of their findings and recommendations by April 1, 2020.
Section two of the bill establishes the effective date.
Justification
In 2008, the state adopted section 230-d of the public health law, establishing accreditation standards for office-based surgery. The Act required that in order to ensure the highest standards of patient safe- ty, all office-based surgery entities must be accredited and maintain accreditation by one of the nationally recognized accrediting agencies.
In the decade since the enactment of OBS accreditation, the industry has undergone significant change, including the loss or migration of provid- ers and patients to the higher cost ambulatory surgery center and hospi- tal settings. The major driver of this has been the lack of reimburse- ment for the costs of the office based surgery venue by health insurers.
In addition to the ever-increasing health care costs, the industry has had to comply with added state mandates regarding adverse events, and more recently, new patient data reporting OBS surgery providers remain concerned about the future viability of the sector. The purpose of this bill is to bring together interested stakeholders to review the history, current scientific data and industry trends, to explore solutions, and make recommendations aimed at preserving the sector.
Legislative history
S8474 of 2018 passed Senate
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
The act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.