A 11665: Ensures statewide telehealth access for recipients of licensed article thirty-one mental health outpatient treatment and rehabilitative services.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 11665  IN ASSEMBLY September 2, 2026 ___________ Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Wieder) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Mental Health AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to telehealth in-home mental health service delivery The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Legislative findings and intent. The legislature finds and 2 declares that: 3 1. Access to mental health services is a critical public health prior- 4 ity throughout New York state, particularly in rural, underserved, and 5 geographically isolated communities. 6 2. Telehealth has proven to be a vital and effective modality for 7 delivering mental health outpatient treatment and rehabilitative 8 services, removing barriers of geography, transportation, and stigma 9 that prevent New Yorkers from obtaining needed care. 10 3. The office of mental health, through its regulations adopted pursu- 11 ant to title 14 NYCRR parts 596 and 599, has broadly authorized licensed 12 article thirty-one mental health outpatient treatment and rehabilitative 13 service programs to deliver services via telehealth to recipients at 14 their place of residence or other location, without regard to the county 15 in which the recipient resides. 16 4. Notwithstanding such regulatory authority, certain regional field 17 offices of the office of mental health have imposed, or attempted to 18 impose, geographic restrictions limiting licensed article thirty-one 19 providers to serving only recipients within the county of the program's 20 primary operating certificate. Such restrictions have no basis in stat- 21 ute or regulation, are inconsistent with state policy, and cause direct 22 harm to recipients who depend on telehealth services for continuity of 23 care. 24 5. The legislature further finds that operating certificate renewal 25 proceedings should not be used as a mechanism to enforce restrictions on 26 geographic service areas that are unsupported by statute or duly promul- 27 gated regulation. 28 6. It is therefore the intent of the legislature to: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD16066-01-6 
 A. 11665 2 1 (a) codify in statute the right of licensed article 31 mental health 2 outpatient treatment and rehabilitative service programs to deliver 3 telehealth services to recipients without restriction as to county of 4 residence; 5 (b) ensure uniformity of regulatory interpretation across all regional 6 field offices of the office of mental health; and 7 (c) protect recipient access to mental health services by prohibiting 8 the imposition of county-based geographic service restrictions on tele- 9 health delivery. 10 § 2. The mental hygiene law is amended by adding a new section 31.04-a 11 to read as follows: 12 § 31.04-a Telehealth services; geographic service area. 13 (a) As used in this section: 14 1. "Article thirty-one telehealth provider" means a provider of mental 15 health services licensed, designated, or authorized by the office pursu- 16 ant to article thirty-one of this chapter that has received written 17 approval from the office to provide telehealth services pursuant to this 18 article and the regulations promulgated thereunder. 19 2. "Telehealth services" shall have the same meaning as set forth in 20 section 596.2 of title 14 of the New York codes, rules and regulations, 21 or any successor provision. 22 3. "Recipient" means an individual receiving or seeking to receive 23 mental health outpatient treatment and rehabilitative services from a 24 licensed article thirty-one telehealth provider. 25 (b) An article thirty-one telehealth provider that has been approved 26 by the office to deliver telehealth services shall be authorized to 27 provide such services to recipients located anywhere within the state of 28 New York, without regard to the county in which the recipient resides or 29 in which the recipient is physically located at the time of service. No 30 condition, restriction, or limitation imposed on a provider's operating 31 certificate shall be construed to restrict telehealth services to recip- 32 ients within any particular county or counties unless such restriction 33 is expressly set forth in statute or in a regulation duly promulgated 34 pursuant to the state administrative procedure act. 35 (c) The commissioner shall not, and no regional field office of the 36 office of mental health shall, by letter, guidance, directive, informal 37 instruction, condition on operating certificate, condition on operating 38 certificate renewal, corrective action plan, or other non-regulatory 39 action, restrict or limit an article thirty-one telehealth provider's 40 authority to deliver telehealth services based solely on the county of 41 residence or location of the recipient, unless such restriction is: 42 1. expressly required by a statute of the state of New York or federal 43 law; or 44 2. adopted as a regulation through the rulemaking procedures set forth 45 in the state administrative procedure act. 46 (d) The delivery of telehealth services by an article thirty-one tele- 47 health provider to a recipient shall be governed by the clinical needs 48 of the recipient and the recipient's right to choose their provider. No 49 article thirty-one telehealth provider shall be penalized, sanctioned, 50 or subject to adverse operating certificate action for providing tele- 51 health services to recipients located outside the county of the provid- 52 er's primary licensed site, provided that such services are otherwise 53 delivered in compliance with applicable statutes and duly promulgated 54 regulations. 55 (e) The commissioner shall ensure that the office's policies and stan- 56 dards regarding the geographic scope of telehealth service delivery by 
 A. 11665 3 1 article thirty-one providers are applied uniformly by all regional field 2 offices of the office of mental health. Within one hundred eighty days 3 of the effective date of this section, the commissioner shall issue 4 written guidance to all regional field offices clarifying: 5 1. that no county-based geographic restriction on telehealth delivery 6 is authorized under this article or any regulation promulgated there- 7 under, except as provided in subdivision (c) of this section; and 8 2. the standard operating procedures for review and approval of tele- 9 health service plans submitted by article thirty-one providers. 10 (f) The renewal of an operating certificate issued to an article thir- 11 ty-one telehealth provider shall not be denied, conditioned, or delayed 12 based on the provider's delivery of telehealth services to recipients 13 outside the county of the provider's primary licensed site, where such 14 delivery was otherwise consistent with the provider's approved tele- 15 health plan and applicable statutes and duly promulgated regulations. 16 (g) The commissioner shall have the authority to promulgate rules and 17 regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this section, 18 consistent with the requirements of the state administrative procedure 19 act. 20 (h) Where a recipient is unable or unwilling to attend a clinic site 21 for in-person services, and it is clinically determined that telehealth 22 is not a viable option, an article thirty-one telehealth provider shall 23 be authorized to deliver services at the recipient's place of residence. 24 The commissioner shall establish a Medicaid reimbursement rate for 25 in-home services delivered pursuant to this subdivision equivalent to 26 the standard office visit rate applicable to licensed article thirty-one 27 outpatient services, so as to ensure no additional fiscal impact to the 28 state. 29 § 3. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, 30 section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of competent 31 jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or 32 invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation 33 to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or part thereof 34 directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have 35 been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the legislature 36 that this act would have been enacted even if such invalid provisions 37 had not been included herein. 38 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 39 have become a law.