BILL NUMBER: S9664
SPONSOR: HINCHEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to establishing the
New York state rural ambulance services task force
 
PURPOSE:
This bill permanently establishes the New York State rural ambulance
service task force.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Establishes the rural ambulance services task force, outlines
duties thereof, composition of the task force, terms of service for
members, compensation of task force members, confidentiality of investi-
gation materials, parameters of annual reports, and lists the offices
that shall receive the annual report.
Section 2: Sets effective date.
 
EXISTING LAW:
This bill makes the rural ambulance task force defined in Chapter 84 of
the Laws of New York, 2022 permanent.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Ambulance services represent the "first-mile" of emergency medicine
response for all New Yorkers and can be the difference between life and
death. In rural communities, those services are too often at severe
financial risk compared to in more populated areas. High fixed costs
against longer down times, as well as high public-payer mixes in poorer
and aging rural areas, have made EMS financially unsustainable in too
many upstate communities.
To fully understand the functionality of rural ambulance services, and
to generate legislative recommendations for policy changes, New York
State in 2022 enacted a temporary rural ambulance services task force.
That task force presented a final report with 38 proposals addressing
four primary areas of concern: funding, staffing, standards, and
systems. Several of those proposals have become legislative bills,
including some ideas consistent with proposals enacted into law like
treatment-in-place and alternate destination transport.
To build on the important work of this task force, this bill would make
it permanent and require submission of annual reports to the governor
and the leaders of both houses of the Legislature. A permanent task
force will be able to examine emerging trends and new issues in ambu-
lance services, and would provide a longitudinal perspective on the
evolution of rural ambulance services, payment system's, and sustaina-
bility.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
TBD
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.