Enacts the Jonah Bichotte Cowan Law; relates to pre-term labor care and directs the commissioner of health to require hospitals to provide pre-term labor patients with information regarding the potential health effects of pre-term labor and pre-term delivery on an expectant mother and on her fetus.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8525
IN SENATE
June 8, 2020
___________
Introduced by Sen. MONTGOMERY -- read twice and ordered printed, and
when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to enacting the Jonah
Bichotte Cowan law relating to pre-term labor care and directing the
commissioner of health to require hospitals to provide pre-term labor
patients with information regarding the potential health effects of
pre-term labor and pre-term delivery on an expectant mother and on her
fetus
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "Jonah Bichotte Cowan law".
3 § 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2509-b
4 to read as follows:
5 § 2509-b. Pre-term labor care. 1. When an expectant mother presents
6 at a general hospital with concerns about being in pre-term labor, the
7 general hospital shall:
8 (a) determine whether the expectant mother is in pre-term labor;
9 (b) upon making a diagnosis of pre-term labor, admit the expectant
10 mother to the general hospital or treat her in the emergency room for
11 close observation and continuous monitoring until it is deemed medically
12 safe for discharge from the general hospital or stabilize and arrange
13 for an appropriate transfer of such expectant mother to another general
14 hospital; and
15 (c) provide the expectant mother with information concerning pre-term
16 labor and the potential health effects of pre-term labor and premature
17 birth delivery on the mother and on her fetus as required by section
18 twenty-eight hundred three-j of this chapter.
19 2. As used in this section, "general hospital" means a general hospi-
20 tal as defined in section twenty-eight hundred one of this chapter.
21 § 3. Subdivisions 1 and 1-a of section 2803-j of the public health
22 law, subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 66 of the laws of 2020 and
23 subdivision 1-a as added by chapter 56 of the laws of 1996, are amended
24 and a new subdivision 1-f is added to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00398-08-0
S. 8525 2
1 1. The commissioner shall require that every hospital and birth center
2 shall prepare in printed or photocopied form and distribute at the time
3 of pre-booking directly to each prospective maternity patient and, upon
4 request, to the general public an informational leaflet. Such leaflet
5 shall also be distributed to any expectant mother who presents at the
6 hospital during pregnancy. Such leaflet shall be designed by the commis-
7 sioner and shall contain brief definitions of maternity related proce-
8 dures and practices as specified in subdivision two of this section and
9 such other material as deemed appropriate by the commissioner. Hospitals
10 and birth centers may also elect to distribute additional explanatory
11 material along with the maternity patients informational leaflet. The
12 commissioner shall make the information contained in the leaflet avail-
13 able on the department's website.
14 1-a. The informational leaflet shall also include:
15 (a) an explanation of the special provisions relating to maternity
16 care and coverage under the insurance law and section [two thousand
17 eight] twenty-eight hundred three-n of this [chapter] article, and
18 suggest that expectant parents check their insurance policies for the
19 details of their maternity coverage; and
20 (b) a statement that the medical assistance program provides coverage
21 for all income-eligible pregnant women and children residing in the
22 state regardless of immigration status.
23 1-f. The informational leaflet shall also include information relating
24 to pre-term labor and premature birth, including but not limited to
25 definitions and information on the risks that pre-term labor and prema-
26 ture birth pose to the expectant mother and fetus.
27 § 4. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
28 have become a law. Effective immediately the addition, amendment and/or
29 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
30 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
31 on or before such date.