The 2023 legislative session began on January 9, 2023, and the legislative committee has been hard at work on the legislative priorities for NYSCA. As a reminder, all legislation in New York operates on a two-year cycle. At the end of the two-years, all bills must be reintroduced again in the new cycle. This year marks the start of a new cycle, so our priority bills will have new bill numbers.
As always, the scope modernization bill remains our number one legislative priority. The Assembly Bill number is A4150, with Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell once again sponsoring the legislation. In the Senate, our old sponsor Senator James Gaughran, did not run for reelection, so we have identified a new Senator as our sponsor, Senator Andrew Goundares. We are waiting for the Senate bill number as of the writing of this update.
Another legislation priority remains the coalition partnership bill. This bill will allow a wide range of healthcare professionals to form partnerships with each other and with medical doctors should they so choose. Our Assembly bill sponsor remains Assemblymember Crystal People-Stokes and the new bill number is A715. In the Senate, the previous partnership bill sponsor, Senator Diane Savino, also did not run for reelection, so the coalition is speaking with a new Senate sponsor. We are also awaiting the Senate bill number for this legislation.
As you are all aware, our third legislative priority for the last few years had been our conservative care bill. However, this bill was signed into law by Governor Hochul at the end of last year. This was a significant legislative accomplishment, and the bill is now law. This law requires a practitioner treating a patient with a neuromusculoskeletal condition causing pain to discuss with the patient the efficacy of non-opioid conservative care treatments before prescribing an opioid. These treatments include massage, chiropractic, physical therapy, acupuncture, and occupational therapy care.
This legislative accomplishment was a huge victory because it means that chiropractic, and the other conservative care therapies, are on the books as an alternative to opioids in New York. Our lobbyist, Amy Kellogg, Esq worked hard to build the coalition that helped to secure this legislative victory and will remain in contact with our partners to explore next steps and see how we can build on this accomplishment. For our part, to help build on this victory, NYSCA will be compiling up to date data for members to access to help explain to other health care providers, patients, and their communities, the role that chiropractic can play in the treatment of acute and chronic pain to decrease the role of opioids
Given this legislative accomplishment, we have added a new legislative priority to our list. As you may recall, a number of years ago, we successful passed legislation to limit the retrospective insurance lookback period to two-years. We are now exploring legislation that will modify this law to limit the retrospective audit look back to three months. The bill has been drafted, and our lobbyist has talked to potential sponsors. We will share more information as soon as this is finalized. We will be joined in this legislative effort by other healthcare providers in New York including the Medical Society of the State of NY.
To help push all of these legislative priorities, we hope that you will join us in Albany for Lobby Day on Tuesday, April 25. More details will be released soon.
In addition, we continue to monitor bills that may have an impact on the profession and take action accordingly.
