Education Law § 8501 · Article 164. Respiratory Therapists and Respiratory Therapy Technicians
Definition of the practice of respiratory therapy
Text — Law content up to date as of October 2, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 8501. Definition of the practice of respiratory therapy. The practice of the profession of respiratory therapy, which shall be undertaken pursuant to the direction of a duly licensed physician, is defined as the performance of cardiopulmonary evaluation, respiratory therapy treatment techniques, and education of the patient, family and public.
1. Evaluation shall include the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data obtained from physiological specimens, performing diagnostic tests, studies and research of the cardiopulmonary system and neurophysiological studies related to respiratory care.
2. Therapy shall include the application and monitoring of medical gases (excluding anesthetic gases) and environmental control systems, mechanical ventilatory support, artificial airway care, bronchopulmonary hygiene, pharmacologic agents related to respiratory care procedures, and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation related and limited to respiratory care.
3. Respiratory therapy services may be performed pursuant to a prescription of a licensed physician or certified nurse practitioner.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 2, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/EDN8501
- Text hash
- sha256 1295258354ffd6bc8ade2d048013d854c40d856a984c86b1a78ad561456b8a06
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.