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Patient Safety in New York

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Patients in New York hospitals and other health care facilities have the right to complain about the care they receive and file grievances without fear of reprisal.1 New York requires certain health care facilities to report patient abuse, injuries, and accidents. In particular, (1) facilities that provide services to mentally disabled persons must notify a qualified person within 24 hours of a patient sustaining an accident or injury;2 (2) agents and employees of residential care facilities must immediately report suspected incidences of resident abuse;3 (3)  Hospitals must report instances of professional misconduct, staff strikes, employee equipment malfunctions, and hospital acquired infections;4  and (4) Health maintenance organizations must report information regarding the termination of a professional to the appropriate disciplinary agency.5

New York requires the department to investigate complaints about adult care facilities.6 The department must keep confidential the identity of persons that file reports about adult care facilities, but may disclose the information in order to investigate the complaint.7

New York has established the Patient Safety Center to promote and support voluntary patient safety efforts by providers. 8 Hospitals must address patient safety through the implementation of medical, dental, and pediatric malpractice programs. 9

 

Footnotes

  • 1. N.Y. COMP. CODES R. & REGS. TIT. 10, § 405.7(B); N.Y. COMP. CODES R. & REGS. TIT. 10, § 405.7(C); NY PUB HEALTH § 2803-C; NY PUB HEALTH § 4660.
  • 2. N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 33.23
  • 3. NY PUB HEALTH § 2803-d
  • 4. NY PUB HEALTH § 2803-e; NY PUB HEALTH § 2805-l; NY PUB HEALTH § 2819.
  • 5. NY PUB HEALTH § 4405-b
  • 6. NY SOC SERV § 461-o.          
  • 7. NY SOC SERV § 461-e.
  • 8. NY PUB HEALTH § 2998-b; NY PUB HEALTH § 2998-c; NY PUB HEALTH § 2998-d.
  • 9. NY PUB HEALTH § 2805-j

 

Patient Safety in New York

Subtopic Statute/Regulation Description
Patient abuse/neglect reporting: Who has the duty to report Complaint Investigation Procedures – N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 461-o The department must create procedures for receiving and investigating complaints about adult care facilities. These procedures must ensure that the...
Establishment of a Voluntary and Collaborative Reporting System by the Patient Safety Center – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2998-d Establishment of a Voluntary and Collaborative Reporting System by the Patient Safety Center Article 29-D of the New York Public Health Law created...
Reporting Requirements for Abuse or Mistreatment – N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 33.06 The commissioners of the office of mental health and of the office for people with developmental disabilities must establish procedures to receive...
Requirements for Release of Records Pertaining to Allegations and Investigations of Abuse and Mistreatment – N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 33.25 Records and documents that relate to allegations and investigations of patient abuse or mistreatment at a facility that provides services to the...
Requirements for Reporting of Residential Patient Abuse – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2803-d Whenever there is reasonable cause to believe that a person receiving care or services in a residential health care facility has been physically...
Patient abuse/neglect reporting: For specific health care facilities Complaint Investigation Procedures – N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 461-o The department must create procedures for receiving and investigating complaints about adult care facilities. These procedures must ensure that the...
Establishment of a Voluntary and Collaborative Reporting System by the Patient Safety Center – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2998-d Establishment of a Voluntary and Collaborative Reporting System by the Patient Safety Center Article 29-D of the New York Public Health Law created...
Reporting Requirements for Abuse or Mistreatment – N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 33.06 The commissioners of the office of mental health and of the office for people with developmental disabilities must establish procedures to receive...
Requirements for Release of Records Pertaining to Allegations and Investigations of Abuse and Mistreatment – N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 33.25 Records and documents that relate to allegations and investigations of patient abuse or mistreatment at a facility that provides services to the...
Requirements for Reporting of Residential Patient Abuse – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2803-d Whenever there is reasonable cause to believe that a person receiving care or services in a residential health care facility has been physically...
Sentinel and adverse event reporting: Wrong-site surgery Disclosure of Nursing Quality Indicators – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2805-t Every hospital with an operating certificate must make available to the public information regarding nurse staffing and patient outcomes as specified...
Hospital Acquired Infection Reporting – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2819 Every general hospital must maintain a program capable of identifying and tracking hospital acquired infections for the purpose of public reporting...
Incident Reporting Procedures for the Office of Mental Health and Office for People with Developmental Disabilities – N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 29.29 The office of mental health and office for people with developmental disabilities must create policies and procedures for reporting incidents that...
Reporting of Adverse Events in Office Based Surgery – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2998-e Reporting of Adverse Events in Office Based Surgery All office-based surgical practices need to be accredited by certain nationally recognized...
Requirements for Records and Reports from Adult Care Facilities – N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 461-e The department may require, through regulations, adult care facilities to keep the following records: “A chronological admission and...
Sentinel and adverse event reporting: Medication errors Disclosure of Nursing Quality Indicators – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2805-t Every hospital with an operating certificate must make available to the public information regarding nurse staffing and patient outcomes as specified...
Hospital Acquired Infection Reporting – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2819 Every general hospital must maintain a program capable of identifying and tracking hospital acquired infections for the purpose of public reporting...
Incident Reporting Procedures for the Office of Mental Health and Office for People with Developmental Disabilities – N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 29.29 The office of mental health and office for people with developmental disabilities must create policies and procedures for reporting incidents that...
Reporting of Adverse Events in Office Based Surgery – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2998-e Reporting of Adverse Events in Office Based Surgery All office-based surgical practices need to be accredited by certain nationally recognized...
Requirements for Records and Reports from Adult Care Facilities – N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 461-e The department may require, through regulations, adult care facilities to keep the following records: “A chronological admission and...
Sentinel and adverse event reporting: Infections (HAI) Disclosure of Nursing Quality Indicators – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2805-t Every hospital with an operating certificate must make available to the public information regarding nurse staffing and patient outcomes as specified...
Hospital Acquired Infection Reporting – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2819 Every general hospital must maintain a program capable of identifying and tracking hospital acquired infections for the purpose of public reporting...
Incident Reporting Procedures for the Office of Mental Health and Office for People with Developmental Disabilities – N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 29.29 The office of mental health and office for people with developmental disabilities must create policies and procedures for reporting incidents that...
Reporting of Adverse Events in Office Based Surgery – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2998-e Reporting of Adverse Events in Office Based Surgery All office-based surgical practices need to be accredited by certain nationally recognized...
Requirements for Records and Reports from Adult Care Facilities – N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 461-e The department may require, through regulations, adult care facilities to keep the following records: “A chronological admission and...
Sentinel and adverse event reporting: Fires (involving patient) Disclosure of Nursing Quality Indicators – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2805-t Every hospital with an operating certificate must make available to the public information regarding nurse staffing and patient outcomes as specified...
Hospital Acquired Infection Reporting – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2819 Every general hospital must maintain a program capable of identifying and tracking hospital acquired infections for the purpose of public reporting...
Incident Reporting Procedures for the Office of Mental Health and Office for People with Developmental Disabilities – N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 29.29 The office of mental health and office for people with developmental disabilities must create policies and procedures for reporting incidents that...
Reporting of Adverse Events in Office Based Surgery – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2998-e Reporting of Adverse Events in Office Based Surgery All office-based surgical practices need to be accredited by certain nationally recognized...
Requirements for Records and Reports from Adult Care Facilities – N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 461-e The department may require, through regulations, adult care facilities to keep the following records: “A chronological admission and...
Sentinel and adverse event reporting: Death Disclosure of Nursing Quality Indicators – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2805-t Every hospital with an operating certificate must make available to the public information regarding nurse staffing and patient outcomes as specified...
Hospital Acquired Infection Reporting – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2819 Every general hospital must maintain a program capable of identifying and tracking hospital acquired infections for the purpose of public reporting...
Incident Reporting Procedures for the Office of Mental Health and Office for People with Developmental Disabilities – N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 29.29 The office of mental health and office for people with developmental disabilities must create policies and procedures for reporting incidents that...
Reporting of Adverse Events in Office Based Surgery – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2998-e Reporting of Adverse Events in Office Based Surgery All office-based surgical practices need to be accredited by certain nationally recognized...
Requirements for Records and Reports from Adult Care Facilities – N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 461-e The department may require, through regulations, adult care facilities to keep the following records: “A chronological admission and...
Sentinel and adverse event reporting: Accident (incl. falls) Disclosure of Nursing Quality Indicators – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2805-t Every hospital with an operating certificate must make available to the public information regarding nurse staffing and patient outcomes as specified...
Hospital Acquired Infection Reporting – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2819 Every general hospital must maintain a program capable of identifying and tracking hospital acquired infections for the purpose of public reporting...
Incident Reporting Procedures for the Office of Mental Health and Office for People with Developmental Disabilities – N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 29.29 The office of mental health and office for people with developmental disabilities must create policies and procedures for reporting incidents that...
Reporting of Adverse Events in Office Based Surgery – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2998-e Reporting of Adverse Events in Office Based Surgery All office-based surgical practices need to be accredited by certain nationally recognized...
Requirements for Records and Reports from Adult Care Facilities – N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 461-e The department may require, through regulations, adult care facilities to keep the following records: “A chronological admission and...
Patient Safety N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 14 § 524.7 - Incident Reporting Requirements at Facilities Operated by Office of Mental Health This regulation sets forth a list of incidents that are considered reportable, and requires that these incidents be reported to the Justice Center...
N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 14 § 524.8 - Incident Reporting Procedures at Facilities Operated by Office of Mental Health § 524.7 set forth the requirement that facilities operated by office of mental report all adverse incidents to the justice center and the office...
N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 14 § 524.9 - Records Maintenance and Confidentiality of Incident Management Programs at Facilities Operated by Office of Mental Health This regulation sets forth certain guidelines for the care of patients involved in a reportable incidents and the investigation process.  The...
N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 14 § 584.17 - Quality Assurance at Residential Treatment Facilities for Children and Youth with Mental Disabilities This regulation sets forth the requirements for ensuring quality at residential treatment facilities for children and youth with mental disabilities...
N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 14 § 823.15 - Confidentiality of Records by Outpatient Chemical Dependency Services for Youth This regulation requires that Outpatient Chemical Dependency Services for Youth or OCDY programs maintain the confidentiality of all records that...
N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law § 33.23 - Requirements for Incident Notifications and Reports The director of a facility that provides services to the mentally disabled must notify a qualified person of an accident or injury that affects the...
N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 230-d - Requirements for Those Licensed to Perform Office-Based Surgeries This section of the law requires that practitioners licensed to perform office-based surgery (defined as surgical procedures performed at non-...
NY PUB HEALTH § 2805-l   Hospital Incident Reporting All hospitals are required to report certain incidents to the department.  These include: Patients'...
Patient safety data reporting Reporting of Physician Disciplinary Actions by Health Maintenance Organizations – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 4405-b A health maintenance organization must make a report to the appropriate professional disciplinary agency within 30 days of the occurrence of any of...
Requirements for Reporting of Professional Misconduct – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2803-e Hospitals and various other facilities must make a report within 30 days of the occurrence of any of the following professional misconduct scenarios...
Malpractice reporting: Self-report Requirements for Hospital-Based Medical, Dental and Podiatric Malpractice Prevention Programs – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2805-j Hospitals must have a medical, dental, and podiatric malpractice program for the purpose of identifying and preventing malpractice. These malpractice...
Malpractice reporting: By peer review/medical board Requirements for Hospital-Based Medical, Dental and Podiatric Malpractice Prevention Programs – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2805-j Hospitals must have a medical, dental, and podiatric malpractice program for the purpose of identifying and preventing malpractice. These malpractice...
Malpractice reporting: By insurance companies Requirements for Hospital-Based Medical, Dental and Podiatric Malpractice Prevention Programs – N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2805-j Hospitals must have a medical, dental, and podiatric malpractice program for the purpose of identifying and preventing malpractice. These malpractice...
Click on the individual state law in the table above to see our summary of the individual law.


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