S 3188 New York Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Limits physician charges for missed appointments by patients

Summary
Relates to physician charges for missed appointments by patients; bars physicians from charging fees if a patient arrives on time for appointment but was not seen; requires written policy about missed appointments be prominently posted in patient waiting room and included in bills mailed to patients.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Jun 2026
Senate Passage
Jun 2026
Assembly Passage
Governor
Introduced Jan 24, 2025 Last action Jun 2, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

S3188 S3188A · 2 edits
MINOR
The bill was amended to increase the required notice period for appointment cancellations from one hour to twenty-four hours. Additionally, the rules regarding patient waiting times were clarified to ensure fees are only barred if a patient arrives on time and waits over an hour without being seen.
Scope change
The bill's scope regarding the notice period for cancellation fees was expanded to require a longer timeframe for patients to reschedule without penalty.
REQUIREMENT

The notice period required for a patient to cancel or change an appointment without incurring a fee was increased from one hour to twenty-four hours.

The condition for barring a cancellation fee was clarified to explicitly require that the patient arrived on time and waited longer than one hour before being seen by a physician.

Floor votes · Senate Jun 2, 2026

How they voted

4318
Passed · 2 other
Total votes 63
Jun 2, 2026
D Democratic41
39 Yea 2
95% Yea
R Republican22
4 Yea 18 Nay
81% Nay
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
14
Key actions
3
Committee
4
Amendments
2
Jun 2, 2026
Committee
REFERRED TO HEALTH
lower
Jun 2, 2026
Upper · Passed
PASSED SENATE
upper
May 12, 2026
Upper · Passed
PRINT NUMBER 3188A
upper
May 12, 2026
Upper · Passed
AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO HEALTH
upper
Jan 7, 2026
Committee
REFERRED TO HEALTH
upper
Jun 13, 2025
Committee
COMMITTED TO RULES
upper
Jan 24, 2025
Committee
REFERRED TO HEALTH
upper
1 primary · 1 co-sponsor

Sponsors