NY Pub Health L § 2995-A (2021)
2021 New York Laws PBH - Public Health Article 29-D - Health Information and Quality Improvement Title 1 - Health Information 2995-A - Physician Profiles.

§  2995-a.  Physician  profiles.  1.  The department shall collect the following  information  and  create  individual  profiles  on  licensees subject  to the authority of the office of professional medical conduct, in a format that shall be available for dissemination to the public:  (a) a statement of any criminal convictions  (as  defined  by  section 1.20  of  the  criminal procedure law) within the most recent ten years, under the laws of New York state or any other jurisdiction, for offenses specified by regulations of the department;  (b) a statement of any action  (other  than  an  action  that  remains confidential) taken against the licensee pursuant to section two hundred thirty of this chapter or any similar action taken by any other state or licensing entity, within the most recent ten years;  (c)  a  statement  of  any  current  limitation  of  the licensee to a specified area, type, scope or condition of practice;  (d) a statement of any loss or  involuntary  restriction  of  hospital privileges  or  a  failure to renew professional privileges at hospitals within the last ten years, for reasons related to the quality of patient care delivered or to be delivered by the physician where procedural  due process has been afforded, exhausted, or waived, or the resignation from or removal of medical staff membership or restriction of privileges at a hospital  taken  in  lieu  of a pending disciplinary case related to the quality of patient care delivered or to be delivered  by  the  physician (notwithstanding   paragraph   (a)   of  subdivision  three  of  section twenty-eight hundred three-e of this chapter, as added by chapter  eight hundred sixty-six of the laws of nineteen hundred eighty);  (e) (i) a statement indicating the number of medical malpractice court judgments  and  arbitration  awards  within the most recent ten years in which a payment is  awarded  to  a  complaining  party  (notwithstanding subsection  (f)  of section three hundred fifteen of the insurance law); and  (ii) a statement indicating all  malpractice  settlements  within  the most recent ten years in which payment is awarded to a complaining party (notwithstanding  subsection (f) of section three hundred fifteen of the insurance law),  (A) if the total number of settlements exceeds two; or  (B) if the  commissioner  determines  any  such  settlement  could  be relevant  to  patient decisionmaking concerning health care quality. The statement shall include the following: "Settlement payments will  appear in  this profile only if the total number of settlements made within the past ten years exceeds two, or if the commissioner of health  determines a  settlement  to be relevant to patient decisionmaking. Settlement of a claim may occur for a variety  of  reasons,  which  do  not  necessarily reflect  negatively  on  the  professional  competence or conduct of the physician. A payment in settlement of a medical  malpractice  action  or claim   does  not  necessarily  mean  that  a  medical  malpractice  has occurred." The commissioner may supplement  such  statement  as  may  be appropriate.  (iii) judgments, awards and settlements shall be reported in graduated categories  indicating  the level of significance, date and place of the judgment,  award   or   settlement.   Information   concerning   medical malpractice judgments, awards and settlements shall be put in context by comparing  an  individual  licensee's medical malpractice settlements to the experience of other physicians in New York  state  within  the  same board  specialty.  Pending  malpractice claims shall not be disclosed to the public under this section. Nothing  herein  shall  be  construed  to prevent  the  board from investigating or disciplining a licensee on the basis of medical malpractice claims that are pending;  (f) name of medical schools attended and date of graduations;  (g) graduate medical education;  (h) current specialty board certification and date of certification;  (i) dates admitted to practice in New York state;  (j) names of hospitals where the licensee has practice privileges;  (k)  appointments  to  medical  school  faculties and indication as to whether a  licensee  has  had  a  responsibility  for  graduate  medical education within the most recent ten years;  (l)  information  regarding  publications  in  peer  reviewed  medical literature within the most recent ten years;  (m) information regarding professional or community service activities or awards;  (n) (i) the  location  of  the  licensee's  primary  practice  setting identified as such; and  (ii)  the  names  of  any  licensed  physicians with whom the licensee shares a group practice, as defined in subdivision five of  section  two hundred thirty-eight of this chapter;  (o)  the  identification  of  any  translating  services  that  may be available at the licensee's primary practice location;  (p) whether the licensee participates  in  the  medicaid  or  medicare program  or  any  other  state  or  federally  financed health insurance program; and  (q)  health  care  plans  with  which  the  licensee  has   contracts, employment, or other affiliation.   1-a.  Each physician licensed and registered to practice in this state shall within thirty days of the transmittal of an initial profile survey and upon entering or updating his or her profile information:  (a) register and maintain an  account  with  the  department's  health provider  network  and  any  successor  electronic system established to facilitate communications between the  department  and  licensed  health care providers; or  (b) provide an e-mail address to the department which shall be used by the  department  to  communicate  with  the  physician.  Licensees shall provide notice to the department  of  changed  e-mail  addresses  within thirty   days   of  the  change.  Licensee  e-mail  addresses  shall  be confidential and shall not  be  published  as  part  of  the  licensee's profile. The e-mail addresses may be used for department purposes only.   2.  Nothing  in this section shall limit the department's authority to collect,  require  reporting  of,  publish  or   otherwise   disseminate information about licensees.   3.  Each  physician  who  is  self-insured  for  professional  medical malpractice shall periodically report to the department on forms and  in the  time  and  manner  required  by  the  commissioner  the information specified in paragraph (e) of subdivision one of  this  section,  except that  the physician shall report the dollar amount (to the extent of the physician's  information  and  belief)  for  each  judgment,  award  and settlement and not a level of significance or context.   4. Each physician shall periodically report to the department on forms and  in  the  time  and  manner  required  by the commissioner any other information as is required by the  department  for  the  development  of profiles   under   this   section  which  is  not  otherwise  reasonably obtainable. In addition to such periodic reports and providing the  same information,  each physician shall update his or her profile information within the six months prior to the expiration date of  such  physician's registration  period,  as  a  condition  of  registration  renewal under article one hundred thirty-one of the education law. Except for optional information provided, physicians shall  notify  the  department  of  any change in the profile information within thirty days of such change.    5.  The  department  shall provide each licensee with a copy of his or her profile prior to dissemination to the public. In the manner and time required  by  the  commissioner,  a  licensee  shall  be  provided   the opportunity  to correct factual inaccuracies that appear in the profile. The  physician shall be permitted to file a concise statement concerning information contained  in  the  profile,  which  shall  be  disseminated therewith.   6.  A  physician  may  elect  to  have his or her profile omit certain information provided pursuant to paragraphs (l), (m),  (n)  and  (q)  of subdivision  one  of  this  section.  In collecting information for such profiles  and  disseminating  the  same,  the  department  shall  inform physicians that they may choose not to provide such information required pursuant  to paragraphs (l), (m), (n) and (q) of subdivision one of this section.   7.  A  physician  who   knowingly   provides   materially   inaccurate information   under   this  section  shall  be  guilty  of  professional misconduct  pursuant  to  section  sixty-five  hundred  thirty  of   the education law.   8. The department shall establish a toll-free telephone number through which  it  shall  answer inquiries about and accept orders for hard copy physician profiles established  pursuant  to  this  section  and  accept consumer   complaints   about  suspected  professional  misconduct.  The department may charge a nominal fee for producing  and  mailing  a  hard copy physician profile.   9.  The department shall, in addition to hard copy physician profiles, provide for electronic access  to  and  copying  of  physician  profiles developed  pursuant to this section through the system commonly known as the Internet. The department shall update a physician's  online  profile within thirty days of receipt of a completed physician profile survey or any change in profile information.   10. The commissioner shall require that:  (a)  Practitioner  organizations that are representative of the target group for profiling, and health care consumer organizations, be provided the opportunity to review and  comment  on  the  profiling  methodology, including  collection  methods,  analysis,  formatting,  and methods and means for release and dissemination.  (b) Comparisons of practitioner profiles shall be organized  according to practitioner areas of practice.   11.  The commissioner shall evaluate the utility and practicability of including in the profile a comparison of malpractice data by  geographic area.  However,  the  implementation of the profile shall not be delayed pending such evaluation.   12. The commissioner shall develop and distribute  a  notice  suitable for  posting  that  informs  consumers  of the availability of physician profiles and the telephone numbers and Internet addresses for  accessing them.   13.   Further   study   of   physician  profiles.  After  the  initial dissemination of the data identified in subdivision one of this section, the department shall conduct a further study of  physician  profiles  as follows:  (a) Data sources. The department shall identify the types of physician data to which the public has access, including all information available from  federal,  state  or  local  agencies  which  is  useful for making determinations  concerning  health  care  quality  determinations.   The department  shall  study  all  physician data reporting requirements and develop recommendations to consolidate  data  collection  and  eliminate duplicate  and  unnecessary  reporting  requirements,  or  to supplement existing reporting requirements in order to satisfy the requirements  of  this   section.   The   department   shall   study  the  feasibility  of incorporating health plan reporting requirements, without  imposing  any extra burden on the physician, regarding network participation into this section  to  ensure  this information is available, accurate, up-to-date and accessible to consumers.  (b) Supplemental information adjustment and security  safeguards.  The department  shall  develop  a  methodology  for application to collected physician data that accounts for factors such as frequency, severity and geographic area which shall be used to provide context to reported data. Any  such  methodology  shall  not  diminish  the  information  reported pursuant  to  subdivision  one  of  this  section.  In  developing  such methodology, the  department  may  consult  with  physicians,  including representatives  of  appropriate specialty societies. The department may also consult with organizations  representing  consumers,  other  health care  providers,  and  health  care  plans.  Any  such methodology shall include adequate and appropriate  safeguards  to  ensure  the  security, accuracy   and   integrity  of  health  information  created,  received, maintained, used or transmitted in connection with the statewide  health information  system.  Such  safeguards  shall  be sufficient to meet any minimum standards set by state and federal laws and regulations.  (c) Public review. The department shall  provide  organizations  which are  representative  of consumers, physicians, including representatives of appropriate specialty societies,  other  health  care  providers  and health  care  plans  the  opportunity  to  review  and  comment  on  its determinations and recommendations. The department shall  consider  such comments,  and  may  amend  its  determinations  and  recommendations to reflect them.  (d)  Report.  The  department  shall   provide   a   report   of   its determinations   and  recommendations  under  this  subdivision  to  the governor and legislature, and make such report publicly available, on or before January first, two thousand sixteen. The department shall  report annually  thereafter  to  the legislature on the status of the physician profiles and any recommendations for additions, consolidations or  other changes deemed appropriate.   14.  The  physician  data  so disseminated shall be updated at regular intervals to be determined by the department.   15. (a) All physician data disseminated shall  include  the  following statements:  "THE  DATA  COLLECTED  BY THE DEPARTMENT IS ACCURATE TO THE BEST OF THE KNOWLEDGE  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT,  BASED  ON  THE  INFORMATION SUPPLIED  BY  THE  PHYSICIAN  WHO  IS THE SUBJECT OF THE DATA. WHILE THE DEPARTMENT UTILIZES A VARIETY OF SOURCES OF INFORMATION IN CHECKING  THE ACCURACY  OF  THE  DATA  REPORTED,  WE  CANNOT  BE  SURE THAT ALL OF THE INFORMATION ON THIS WEBSITE  IS  RIGHT,  COMPLETE,  OR  UP-TO-DATE,  AND CANNOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INFORMATION THAT IS WRONG OR HAS BEEN LEFT OUT.  CONSUMERS  ARE  ENCOURAGED  TO  CONSULT OTHER SOURCES TO VERIFY OR OBTAIN ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT A PHYSICIAN. PENDING  LEGAL  ACTIONS DO  NOT  IN  ANY  WAY INDICATE PARTIES' GUILT, LIABILITY OR CULPABILITY. CASES MAY BE  DISMISSED,  WITHDRAWN,  OR  SETTLED  WITHOUT  PAYMENTS  TO PLAINTIFFS.  ANY  DISPOSITION  TO  A CASE MAY BE SUBJECT TO APPEAL." The commissioner shall ensure that the full text of the statements appear on each web page of the physician profile in a manner that does not require the user of the site to click on a separate link in order  to  view  the statements.  (b)  The  department shall provide on the physician profiles an active link to the website maintained by the unified  court  system  containing information  on  active and disposed cases in the local and state courts in the state.    16. If, after initial dissemination of the physician data required  by this section, the department determines that any such data is not useful for making quality determinations, the department shall recommend to the legislature the necessary statutory changes.