Core health services like immunizations, verbal assessments and counseling could be provided in homes under legislation that will be headed to Gov. Kathy Hochul's desk. 

The measure is meant 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 being subject to licensure, as long as the visit follows statutory requirements and is not intended to serve as a formal nursing service. 

The measure would also allow the state health commissioner to determine if the service exceed the limits of the scope of public health services. The measure would also create reimbursements for those services. 

Lawmakers are yet to determine the cost of the legislation, but in a memorandum of support, pointed to how the change would give state and local health officials a lighter bureaucratic load. 

"The decrease in monitoring needs at the state and local level would result in administrative savings and redeployment of the existing tax levies to meet other public health needs," lawmakers said.