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A07993 Summary:

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A07993 Floor Votes:

A07993 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                         7993--A
 
                               2013-2014 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                      June 13, 2013
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced by M. of A. HOOPER -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on  Corporations, Authorities and Commissions -- committee discharged,
          bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended  and  recommitted  to  said
          committee
 
        AN  ACT  to amend the public authorities law, in relation to authorizing

          the Nassau health care corporation to enter into  agreements  for  the
          creation and operation of a health care delivery system network
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1.  Section 3401 of the public authorities law is  amended  by
     2  adding a new subdivision 3 to read as follows:
     3    3.  As a free-standing public health care provider, the corporation is
     4  at a competitive disadvantage in the current and  emerging  health  care
     5  environment,  yet  it cannot become part of a larger system of corporate
     6  entities while maintaining its public status. Significant investments in
     7  the public assets of the corporation and its  efforts  to  provide  high

     8  quality  health  care  services to medically underserved populations are
     9  jeopardized by the corporation's inability to compete on its own and  by
    10  potential  limits  on  its  ability to collaborate with other public and
    11  private providers, entities and individuals. The state  finds  that  the
    12  benefits of collaboration by the corporation outweigh any adverse impact
    13  on  competition. The benefits of the corporation's collaborative efforts
    14  include preserving and expanding needed  health  care  services  in  its
    15  primary  service area; consolidating unneeded or duplicative health care
    16  services; enhancing the quality of, and expanding access to, health care
    17  delivered to  medically  underserved  populations;  lowering  costs  and

    18  improving  the  efficiency  of the health care services it delivers; and
    19  achieving improved reimbursement from non-governmental payors. Based  on
    20  the  findings  contained in this section, the state hereby affirmatively
    21  expresses a policy to allow the corporation to engage  in  collaborative
    22  activities  consistent  with  its  health care purposes, notwithstanding
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10327-02-3
        A. 7993--A                          2
 
     1  that those collaborations may have the effect of displacing  competition

     2  in  the  provision  of  hospital, physician or other health care-related
     3  services.  With respect to the collaborative activities contemplated  in
     4  this  section and in subdivision ten of section thirty-four hundred five
     5  of this title, the corporation and the public or  private  entities  and
     6  individuals with which it collaborates shall be immunized from liability
     7  under the federal and state antitrust laws.
     8    § 2. Section 3405 of the public authorities law is amended by adding a
     9  new subdivision 10 to read as follows:
    10    10.  (a) In carrying out its health care purposes through the exercise
    11  of the special powers exercised pursuant to this section and the general
    12  powers exercised pursuant to section thirty-four hundred  four  of  this

    13  title,   the  corporation  is  authorized  to  engage  in  arrangements,
    14  contracts, information sharing and other collaborative  activities  with
    15  public  or  private entities and individuals irrespective of the compet-
    16  itive consequences of these activities and  notwithstanding  that  these
    17  activities  may  have  the  effect  of  displacing  competition  in  the
    18  provision of hospital, physician, or other health care-related services.
    19  These collaborative activities may  include  without  limitation:  joint
    20  ventures;  joint  negotiations  with  physicians,  hospitals and payors,
    21  whether such negotiations result in  separate  or  combined  agreements;
    22  leases; and/or agreements which involve delivery system network creation

    23  and operation, provided that, the corporation shall exercise state over-
    24  sight  by  determining  whether particular collaborations with public or
    25  private entities and individuals further the interests of the  state  as
    26  set  forth in this subdivision and in subdivision three of section thir-
    27  ty-four hundred one of this title. In  undertaking  these  collaborative
    28  activities, the corporation and the public or private entities and indi-
    29  viduals  with  which  it  collaborates shall be immunized from liability
    30  under the federal and state antitrust laws.
    31    (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this  section,  the  corporation
    32  and  its  collaborators  shall  remain  subject  to generally applicable

    33  provisions of the public health law and regulations thereunder. In addi-
    34  tion, the corporation shall file an annual report with the state depart-
    35  ment of health, as additional state oversight, concerning the impact  of
    36  the  collaborations  authorized under this section on the advantages and
    37  disadvantages identified by the department of health in its request  for
    38  applications  for  HEAL NY Phase 21, entitled "Restructuring Initiatives
    39  in Medicaid Redesign," and concerning the impact on reimbursement to the
    40  corporation's facilities by managed care organizations with  respect  to
    41  commercial  plan  members, including the extent to which rates have been
    42  negotiated that more fairly compensate the corporation's facilities  for

    43  the  cost  of providing services to commercial enrollees, without cross-
    44  subsidy from medicaid or other governmental programs. In response to the
    45  report, the department of health shall have sixty days after the  report
    46  has been filed to request, in writing, that the corporation make changes
    47  to  its policies to ensure that the collaborations authorized under this
    48  section further the interests of the state.
    49    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.