The New York State Budget contains some laws, effective on Oct. 20 that will apply to dental practices and hospitals. New York is consistently changing old norms and focusing on financial protections for patients.

One of the most important changes is a new Section 18-c of the New York State Public

Health Law which requires obtaining separate informed consent from patients for clinical services and for payment for such services. The new law takes effect Oct. 20. While many dental practices already follow this model, the law now mandates that informed consent must be obtained from a patient to provide any treatment, procedure, examination or other direct healthcare services separately from the patient’s consent to pay for the services. In addition, consent to pay for any healthcare services by a patient must not be given prior to the patient receiving such services and discussing treatment costs.

 Consent is defined as an action which:

1) clearly and conspicuously communicates the individual’s authorization of an act or practice;                                              2) is made in the absence of any mechanism in the user interface that has the purpose or substantial effect of obscuring subverting or impairing decision making or choice to obtain consent; and                                                                                      3) cannot be inferred from inaction.

Other important changes relate to the use of medical credit cards to pay for services, with new laws all taking effect on Oct. 20. The Budget’s changes to the New York State General Business Law created a new Section 349-g that prohibits any hospital or healthcare provider from completing any portion of an application for medical financial products, such as “medical credit cards and third-party medical installment loans,” for the patient or otherwise arranging for or establishing an application that is not completely filled out by the patient.

Also created is a new Section 519-a of the General Business Law, which provides that hospitals or healthcare providers cannot require credit card pre-authorizations and cannot require the patient to have a credit card on file prior to providing emergency or medically necessary medical services to patients. Section 519-a of the General Business Law also requires hospitals and other healthcare providers to notify patients about the risks of paying for medical services with a credit card. Such notification shall highlight the fact that by using a credit card to pay for medical services, the patient is forgoing state and federal protections regarding medical debt. The New York State Commissioner of Health has the authority and sole discretion to set requirements for the contents of such notices.