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Public Hearing – Opioid Overdose Reversal Drugs

May 10, ’18 3:49 PM

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

SUBJECT:  Opioid overdose reversal drugs: assessing and improving access to and availability of drugs to prevent opioid overdose deaths.

PURPOSE:  The purpose of this hearing is to examine access to and availability of opioid overdose reversal drugs, such as naloxone, and to identify, if necessary, means by which to expand access and availability statewide.

New York City
Thursday, May 17
11:00 A.M.
Assembly Hearing Room
19th Floor
250 Broadway

Opioid antagonists, such as naloxone, are potentially life-saving prescription medications used to reverse overdoses caused by heroin and opioids. New York State has made progress expanding access to naloxone and similar drugs. In 2006, New York State passed a law authorizing non-medical personnel to administer naloxone to individuals who seek it. A 2014 law expanded this to allow the prescribing, dispensing, and distribution of opioid antagonists by a non-patient specific order. In addition, many first responders now receive training to administer naloxone.

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Times-Union: N.Y. lawmakers question health officials on drug prices, executive power, spending

Feb 21, ’17 12:12 PM

By Claire Hughes, 2/16/17

Drug price controls, the adequacy of Medicaid payments and expanding the power of the Health Department were among the topics discussed at a legislative hearing Thursday on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed budget for health and Medicaid.

An underlying theme was uncertainty about what action President Donald Trump and a Republican-led Congress might take on the Affordable Care Act, which could affect health insurance subsidies for New Yorkers, and funding for women’s reproductive health clinics, including Planned Parenthood.

 “Much is happening in Washington,” state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker told lawmakers. “If the ACA were repealed, that would be a major concern, with millions of people potentially losing health care.”
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Press Release – Assembly Health Committee Update

Apr 11, ’16 5:03 PM

Assembly Health Committee Update:
New Legislation Advanced to Improve Access to Medical Marijuana

The Assembly Committee on Health favorably reported 10 bills at its meeting on April 5. The Health Committee had not met since its March 1 meeting because of work on the state budget.

The Committee reported bills to expand public access to epinephrine auto-injectors (“epi-pens”); establish age-appropriate sex education grant programs; and require apartment building owners to develop and distribute smoking policies.

The Committee also reported three bills to improve the 2014 Compassionate Care Act medical marijuana law and expand patient access. Changes required by the Executive as conditions of signing the bill, and Health Department regulations, drastically limited the scope of the program. The three bills reported by the Committee would:

  • Allow physician assistants and nurse practitioners to prescribe medical marijuana (today they are already fully authorized to write prescriptions for even the strongest and most dangerous controlled substances).
  • Expand the list of eligible conditions. The conditions added in this bill were initially passed by the Assembly but deleted from the final law at the Executive’s insistence.
  • Create an advisory committee to assist the Commissioner in making regulations, advise the Commissioner on clinical matters, and review appeals of denials of patient or caregiver applications; require that medical marijuana regulations conform to the legislative intent and have a valid clinical or public safety basis.
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May Health Committee Update

Jun 4, ’15 11:30 AM

Assembly Health Committee Update:
Protecting Nursing Home Residents From Abuse of Psychotropic Drugs

The Assembly Committee on Health favorably reported 39 bills at its meetings in May.  The Committee advanced legislation strengthening the “prescriber prevails” rule in Medicaid Managed Care; authorizing community paramedicine; and protecting nursing home residents from overuse of psychotropic drugs.

New York law gives patients in nursing homes the right to be fully informed of their proposed treatment, including the right to refuse treatment and be free from chemical restraint unless consistent with certain requirements.  However, psychotropic drugs are being used not just to treat illness but as a form of behavioral control.  The Assembly Health Committee held a hearing in February in which patients’ families, advocates, and adult care experts testified to the frequency of overuse.  A.7351 (Gottfried) requires that before psychotropic drugs are ordered in a nursing home or adult care facility, the patient or their surrogate must be informed of the potential benefits and side effects; dosage and duration of the prescription; reasonable alternatives (such as therapeutic activities); and their right to refuse consent.  The bill also requires written consent by the patient or surrogate.

For more information on a particular bill, please contact the sponsor listed after the description.  For the text of a bill, supporting memorandum, and information on its status, go to: http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menuf.cgi .

Tuesday, May 5

Early Intervention Covered Lives Assessment – Provides funding for Early Intervention services through the “covered lives assessment” paid by health insurance companies.  (A273, Paulin)

Credentialing for Group Practices – Requires insurers to expedite review of applications of health care professionals who are joining a group practice and grant provisional credentials to these professionals (A501, Cusick)

Healthy Teens Act – Establishes a Department of Health grant program for providers of age-appropriate sex education.  (A1616, Gottfried)

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Health Committee Update – 2/27

Feb 27, ’15 6:12 PM

Assembly Health Committee Update
New York Health Act reported from committee

 The Assembly Committee on Health favorably reported 22 bills at its meetings on Tuesday, February 10, and Thursday, February 26, 2015, including legislation giving adoptees access to their birth certificates and medical records, restoring “prescriber prevails” in Medicaid managed care, and creating the New York Health universal health coverage plan.

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