BILL NUMBER: S8325
SPONSOR: BYNOE
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law and the public health law, in relation
to providing guidelines, corrective actions, and transparency, and to
reconfigure the composition of committees of professional conduct within
the office of professional medical conduct
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To create guidelines for penalties and actions taken by the Office of
Professional Medical Conduct, adjust the composition of any committees
of professional conduct which shall investigate a complaint made to the
Office of Professional Medical Conduct, to require licensees under
investigation to disclose if they have been indicted, convicted or
subject to disciplinary proceedings in any other state, to require post-
ing of penalties and actions taken by the Office of Professional Medical
conduct online, and to require medical facilities to provide pertinent
contact information for the Office of Professional Medical Contact to
patients.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 provides the legislative intent of this bill.
Section 2 adds sexual impropriety, physical sexual contact and offering
to provide practice-related services in exchange for sexual favors to
the list of professional misconduct prohibited under Section 6530 of the
Education Law
Section 3 creates a new section 230-H of the Public Health Law to
outline maximum and minimum guidelines for specific violations of
professional misconduct as outlined in Section 6530 of the Education
Law.
Section 4 amends Subdivision 1 of Section 230 of the Public Health Law
to change the composition of the Office of Professional Medical Conduct,
to increase the number of lay persons and to include lay members who
hold a doctoral degree or a master's in public health. This section
also prohibits physician members from being on the board if they have
had any prior disciplinary action taken against them.
Section 5 amends Subdivision 6 of Section 230 of the Public Health Law
to change the composition of committees of professional conduct to
consist of one physician and two lay members, one of whom shall hold a
doctoral degree or a Master's in Public Health.
Section 6 amends Subdivision 7 of Section 230 of the Public Health Law
and paragraph b of subdivision 10 of Section 230 of the Public Health
Law to require licensees undergoing disciplinary proceedings to inform
the committee on professional conduct if they have a license in another
jurisdiction and any disciplinary proceedings made against them in those
jurisdictions.
Section 7 amends paragraph (h) of subdivision 11 of Section 230 of the
Public Health Law to set a standard size for signage, require pertinent
contact information to be provided by medical facilities to patients in
a self-attestation form, including QR codes or links to the Office of
Professional Medical Conduct's website, and to require posting of any
actions or penalties against a licensee on the Department of Health and
the Office's website.
Section 8 requires licensees who are indicted for a criminal offense,
arrested with probable or reasonable cause, or were found to have suffi-
cient evidence by a professional disciplinary agency to conduct a review
to notify the State Office of Professional Medical Conduct of the
action.
Section 9 sets the effective date for this legislation
 
JUSTIFICATION:
On May 15, 2025, Newsday published "Broken Practice: Doctor misconduct
on Long Island" a two-year investigation that found that forty-six
doctors on Long Island were allowed to practice freely for months or
years despite criminal convictions including fraud, sexual abuse, the
illegal dispensing of opioids, violations of the Americans with Disabil-
ities Act, and gross incompetence.
Many other States, including Arizona, Maine, Maryland and Ohio have
established guidelines for the issuance of penalties for violations of
professional medical misconduct, but in New York the Office of Profes-
sional Medical Conduct does not have a framework outlining the maximum
and minimum penalties or actions available for any given violation of
professional misconduct. In addition, there is no responsibility for any
committee of professional conduct to investigate if a licensee who prac-
ticed medicine in another jurisdiction, state or territory had any
disciplinary actions taken against them.
As to provide more balance and different areas of expertise to any
committee on professional conduct, this bill increases the number of lay
members on the board, to specifically include individuals who hold a
doctoral degree or a master's in public health.
Finally, this bill strengthens reporting and transparency requirements
by requiring medical facilities to provide pertinent contact information
for the Office of Professional Medical Conduct to patients in a self-
attestation form as deemed appropriate by the Department of Health and
to require penalties or actions against licensees to be posted online
within ten days of any final determination in order to increase aware-
ness of the Office of Professional Medical Conduct.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Legislation
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None directly to the State.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one-hundred and eightieth day after it
shall have become a law.