Basic health services like immunizations, verbal assessments and counseling could be provided in homes under legislation headed to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk.
The measure aims to allow local health departments in New York to provide “light touch” services that include lead screenings as well as referral services.
Lawmakers want to allow nurses to visit homes and provide those public health services without licensure, as long as the visit follows legal requirements and is not intended to serve as a registered nurse.
The measure would also allow the state health commissioner to determine whether a service exceeds the scope of public health services. The measure would also create fees for those services.
Lawmakers have yet to determine the bill’s cost, but noted in a memorandum of support that the change would ease the bureaucratic burden on state and local health officials.
“Reducing monitoring needs at the state and local levels would result in administrative savings and reallocation of existing tax levies to meet other public health needs,” the lawmakers said.
