NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8472
SPONSOR: Gottfried TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the establishment,
incorporation, construction, or increase in capacity of for-profit
hospice
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To prohibit future establishment or increased capacity of for-profit
hospice.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
The bill amends Public Health Law § 4004 (3) to prohibit the Public
Health and Health Planning Council of the Department of Health from
approving new applications for establishment, construction or increased
capacity by for-profit hospice entities. Existing for profit hospice
will remain approved but may not expand capacity.
JUSTIFICATION:
A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association*
found that "for-profit compared with nonprofit hospices provide narrower
ranges of services to patients, use less skilled clinical staff, care
for patients with lower-skilled needs over longer enrollment periods,
have higher rates of complaint allegations and deficiencies, and provide
fewer community benefits, including training, research, and charity
care. For-profit hospices are more likely than nonprofit hospices to
discharge patients prior to death, to discharge patients with dementia,
and to have higher rates of hospital and emergency department use."
For-profit organizations have a duty to their owners to generate as much
profit as possible and distribute net income to the owners. Their obli-
gations to the people they ostensibly serve are secondary. This is
especially troubling in the case of hospice. The mission of hospice,
providing compassionate end-of-life care, should not be subservient to
providing profit to investors.
New York is uniquely situated to prevent the deterioration of end-of-
life care described above, as currently only two of 41 hospice in New
York are for-profit, compared to a national average of two-thirds as of
2017. Now is the time to place the care and safety of persons who are
dying first and foremost over profit.
* Hospice Tax Status and Ownership Matters for Patients and Families
JAMA Internal Medicine, August 1, 2021 By Melissa D. Aldridge.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8472
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
November 17, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GOTTFRIED, PAULIN, SIMON, SEAWRIGHT, HEVESI,
GONZALEZ-ROJAS, ENGLEBRIGHT, GALEF -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to the establishment,
incorporation, construction, or increase in capacity of for-profit
hospice
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 4004 of the public health law is
2 amended by adding a new paragraph (a-1) to read as follows:
3 (a-1) No hospice shall be approved for establishment, incorporation or
4 construction if it is to be operated on a for-profit basis or by a for-
5 profit entity, in whole or in part. No increase in capacity shall be
6 approved for any existing hospice that is operated on a for-profit basis
7 or by a for-profit entity, in whole or in part. This paragraph applies
8 to any approval on or after the date on which it takes effect.
9 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13324-01-1
