BILL NUMBER: S8341A
SPONSOR: STAVISKY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to establishing a tempo-
rary practice authorization program for certain medical professionals to
practice in underserved areas; and providing for the repeal of such
provisions upon expiration thereof
 
PURPOSE:
To grant out-of-state licensed nurses and physicians who have applied
for licensure in New York, temporary authorization, for up to six
months, to practice in counties or facilities designated as underserved,
pending full New York licensure.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Education Law § 6907 to grant temporary authorization
to out-of-state registered professional nurses and licensed practical
nurses to practice in a county or facility designated by the federal
government as medically underserved, pending full licensure.
Section 2 amends Education Law § 6525 to grant temporary authorization
to out-of-state board-certified physicians to practice in a county or
facility designated by the federal government as medically underserved,
pending full licensure.
Section 3 requires the education commissioner to provide a report evalu-
ating the temporary practice authorization program.
Section 4 establishes the effective and repeal dates.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
According to the federal government, New York state has primary care
health professional shortages in 119 geographic areas and facilities.1
These shortages occur throughout the state, in rural and urban areas.
New York particularly needs more nurses in these areas, but New York
facilities often have difficulty recruiting out-of-state practitioners
because New York, unlike other states in the country, does not permit
out-of-state practitioners to practice in the interim period during
which the Department of Education (SED) accepts and reviews an applica-
tion for permanent licensure.
This bill increases healthcare staffing resources in designated shortage
areas by creating a program to permit certain out-of-state nurses and
physicians to receive a 180-day temporary license upon their application
for a permanent New York license. The temporary license will be issued
to out-Gfstate nurses and physicians so they may immediately begin work-
ing in hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities in New York's
underserved areas.
The bill does not apply to "travel" nurses, or any other health care
professional employed by an employment agency. Instead, to qualify for a
temporary license, the employer must be a health care facility, and the
employee must commit to work at that sponsoring facility for three
years.
It is important to note that this bill does not create a *compact", as
it does not permit out-of-state practitioners to work in New York under
the authority of their out-of-state license. Rather, the pilot program
aims to improve staffing in healthcare facilities in shortage areas by
enabling the facilities to hire and employ licensed out-of-state nurses
and physicians who have received, and will practice under, a temporary
New York State license issued by SED. Authority to practice under the
temporary license ends after no more than 180 days and requires a
commitment to work at the sponsoring facility for three years. By
increasing staff resources in medically underserved areas, facilities
will improve access to patient care.
To determine the pilot program's effectiveness, this bill directs SED to
provide a written report setting forth, at a minimum, the number of
temporary authorizations granted by region or setting and the number and
rate of conversion of temporary authorizations which became full
licenses.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Minimal.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it
shall become law and shall expire and be deemed repealed 3 years after
such effective date.
1 Bureau of Health Workforce, Health Resources and Services Adminis-
tration, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Designated Health
Professional Shortage Areas Statistics, Second Quarter of Fiscal Year

Statutes affected:
S8341: 6958 education law, 6546 education law