Bill Text: NY A07898 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
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Bill Title: Establishes the professional practice of community midwifery; defines as the management in the home, birth center, or community setting, of normal pregnancies, child birth, and postpartum care, including newborn evaluation, resuscitation and referral for infants; sets requirements for license and practice.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 37-3)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-07-08 - print number 7898a [A07898 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A07898-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Establishes the professional practice of community midwifery; defines as the management in the home, birth center, or community setting, of normal pregnancies, child birth, and postpartum care, including newborn evaluation, resuscitation and referral for infants; sets requirements for license and practice.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 37-3)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-07-08 - print number 7898a [A07898 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A07898-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7898 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY May 28, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. GOTTFRIED, PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT to amend the education law and the public health law, in relation to the practice of community midwifery The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Title 8 of the education law is amended by adding a new 2 article 140-A, to read as follows: 3 ARTICLE 140-A 4 COMMUNITY MIDWIFERY 5 Section 6960. Introduction. 6 6961. Definition of practice of community midwifery. 7 6962. Practice of community midwifery. 8 6963. Use of title "community midwife". 9 6964. Requirements for a professional license. 10 6965. Exempt persons. 11 § 6960. Introduction. This article applies to the profession of commu- 12 nity midwifery. The general provisions for all professions contained in 13 article one hundred thirty of this title apply to this article. 14 § 6961. Definition of practice of community midwifery. 1. The practice 15 of the profession of community midwifery is defined as the management in 16 the home, birth center, or community setting, of normal pregnancies, 17 child birth, and postpartum care, including primary preventive gyneco- 18 logic and obstetric care of essentially healthy individuals, and shall 19 include newborn evaluation, resuscitation and referral for infants. A 20 community midwife shall have collaborative relationships with (i) a 21 physician who is board certified as an obstetrician-gynecologist by a 22 national certifying body or (ii) a physician who practices obstetrics 23 and has obstetric privileges at a general hospital licensed under arti- 24 cle twenty-eight of the public health law or (iii) a hospital, licensed 25 under article twenty-eight of the public health law, that provides EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD11661-01-1A. 7898 2 1 obstetrics through a physician having obstetrical privileges at such 2 institution, that provide for consultation, collaborative management and 3 referral to address the health status and risks of the community 4 midwife's patients and that include plans for emergency medical gyneco- 5 logical and obstetrical coverage. A community midwife shall maintain 6 documentation of the collaborative relationships and shall make informa- 7 tion about the collaborative relationships available to the community 8 midwife's patients. Failure to comply with the requirements found in 9 this subdivision shall be subject to professional misconduct provisions 10 as set forth in article one hundred thirty of this title. 11 2. A community midwife shall have the authority, as necessary, and 12 limited to the practice of community midwifery, to order, dispense, 13 prescribe, and administer drugs, immunizing agents, diagnostic tests and 14 devices, and to order laboratory tests, as established by the board of 15 midwifery in accordance with the commissioner's regulations. A community 16 midwife shall obtain a certificate from the department upon successfully 17 completing a program including a pharmacology component, or its equiv- 18 alent, as established by the commissioner's regulations prior to 19 prescribing under this section. 20 3. Any reference to community midwifery, or community midwife, under 21 the provisions of this article, this chapter or any other law, shall 22 refer to and include the profession of community midwifery and a commu- 23 nity midwife, unless the context clearly requires otherwise. 24 § 6962. Practice of community midwifery. Only a person licensed or 25 exempt under this article or authorized by any other section of law 26 shall practice community midwifery. 27 § 6963. Use of title "community midwife". Only a person licensed or 28 exempt under this article shall use the title "community midwife". 29 § 6964. Requirements for a professional license. To qualify for a 30 license as a community midwife, an applicant shall fulfill the following 31 requirements: 32 1. Application: file an application with the department. 33 2. Education: achieve and maintain the credential of community midwife 34 or certified professional midwife from a national certifying body 35 specializing in the certification of community midwives or certified 36 professional midwives and approved by the commissioner. 37 3. Examination: pass an examination designated by a certifying body 38 under subdivision two of this section. 39 4. Age: be at least twenty-one years of age. 40 5. Character: be of good moral character as determined by the depart- 41 ment. 42 6. Fee: pay a fee of one hundred fifteen dollars for an initial 43 license, a fee of one hundred eighty dollars for each triennial regis- 44 tration period and a fee of seventy dollars for a limited permit. 45 § 6965. Exempt persons. Nothing in this article shall (a) affect, 46 prevent, expand, or limit any duty or responsibility of a physician, 47 midwife, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner, acting within the 48 professional's scope of practice, from practicing community midwifery; 49 or (b) affect or prevent a medical student, midwifery student, physician 50 assistant student, or nurse practitioner student from engaging in clin- 51 ical practice in an educational program registered by the department, 52 under the supervision of a physician or board certified 53 obstetrician/gynecologist or midwife, physician assistant, or nurse 54 practitioner, acting within the professional's scope of practice. 55 § 2. Section 6953 of the education law, as amended by chapter 327 of 56 the laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows:A. 7898 3 1 § 6953. Use of title "midwife". Only a person licensed or exempt under 2 this article shall use the title "midwife". Only a person licensed 3 under both this article and article one hundred thirty-nine of this 4 chapter may use the title "nurse-midwife". Only a person licensed under 5 article one hundred forty-A of this chapter may use the title "community 6 midwife". 7 § 3. Section 6954 of the education law, as added by chapter 327 of the 8 laws of 1992, paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 328 9 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows: 10 § 6954. State board of midwifery. 1. The state board of midwifery 11 shall be appointed by the board of regents on recommendation of the 12 commissioner for the purpose of assisting the board of regents on 13 matters of professional licensing and professional conduct in accordance 14 with section sixty-five hundred eight of this title. The board shall be 15 composed of [thirteen] sixteen individuals. Initial appointments to the 16 board shall be such that the terms shall be staggered. However, no 17 members shall serve more than two terms. However, a vacant seat on the 18 board designated for an individual licensed to practice under article 19 one hundred forty-A of this title shall not be counted for purposes of a 20 quorum until it has been initially filled. 21 2. (a) [(1)] Seven members of the board shall be persons licensed [or22exempt] under this [section] article. 23 [(2)] (b) One member of the board shall be an educator of midwifery. 24 (c) Three members of the board shall be persons licensed under article 25 one hundred forty-A of this title. 26 [(b)] (d) Two members of the board shall be individuals who are 27 licensed physicians who are also certified as obstetrician/gynecologists 28 by a national certifying body. 29 [(c)] (e) One member of the board shall be an individual licensed as a 30 physician who practices family medicine including obstetrics. 31 [(d)] (f) One member of the board shall be an individual licensed as a 32 physician who practices pediatrics. 33 [(e)] (g) One member of the board shall be an individual not possess- 34 ing either licensure or training in medicine, midwifery, pharmacology or 35 nursing and shall represent the public at large. 36 3. For purposes of this article, "board" means the state board of 37 midwifery created under this section unless the context clearly indi- 38 cates otherwise. 39 § 4. The article heading of article 140 of the education law, as added 40 by chapter 327 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows: 41 [PROFESSIONAL] MIDWIFERY [PRACTICE ACT] 42 § 5. Subdivision 6 of section 571 of the public health law, as amended 43 by chapter 444 of the laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows: 44 6. "Qualified health care professional" means a physician, dentist, 45 podiatrist, optometrist performing a clinical laboratory test that does 46 not use an invasive modality as defined in section seventy-one hundred 47 one of the education law, physician assistant, specialist assistant, 48 nurse practitioner, [or] midwife, or community midwife, who is licensed 49 and registered with the state education department. 50 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.
