N.Y. Public Authorities Law § 3401: Legislative findings and purpose

§ 3401. Legislative findings and purpose. The legislature hereby finds

and declares as follows:

1. The needs of the residents of the state of New York and of the

county of Nassau can best be served by a public benefit corporation

having the legal, financial and managerial flexibility to take full

advantage of opportunities and challenges presented by the evolving

health care environment and to take whatever actions are necessary to

enable the corporation's continuation as a system which provides the

finest possible quality of health care consistent with costs.

2. In order to accomplish the purposes recited in this section to

provide health care services and health facilities for the benefit of

the residents of the state of New York and the county of Nassau,

including to persons in need of health care services without the ability

to pay as required by law, a public benefit corporation to be known as

the Nassau Health Care Corporation shall be created to provide such

services and facilities and to otherwise carry out such purposes; that

the creation and operation of the Nassau health care corporation, as

hereinafter provided, is in all respects for the benefit of the people

of the state of New York and of the county of Nassau, and is a state,

county and public purpose; and that the exercise by such corporation of

the functions, powers and duties as hereinafter provided constitutes the

performance of an essential public and governmental function.

3. As a free-standing public health care provider, the corporation is

at a competitive disadvantage in the current and emerging health care

environment, yet it cannot become part of a larger system of corporate

entities while maintaining its public status. Significant investments in

the public assets of the corporation and its efforts to provide high

quality health care services to medically underserved populations are

jeopardized by the corporation's inability to compete on its own and by

potential limits on its ability to collaborate with other public and

private providers, entities and individuals. The state finds that the

benefits of collaboration by the corporation outweigh any adverse impact

on competition. The benefits of the corporation's collaborative efforts

include preserving and expanding needed health care services in its

primary service area; consolidating unneeded or duplicative health care

services; enhancing the quality of, and expanding access to, health care

delivered to medically underserved populations; lowering costs and

improving the efficiency of the health care services it delivers; and

achieving improved reimbursement from non-governmental payors. Based on

the findings contained in this section, the state hereby affirmatively

expresses a policy to allow the corporation to engage in collaborative

activities consistent with its health care purposes, notwithstanding

that those collaborations may have the effect of displacing competition

in the provision of hospital, physician or other health care-related

services. With respect to the collaborative activities contemplated in

this section and in subdivision ten of section thirty-four hundred five

of this title, the corporation and the public or private entities and

individuals with which it collaborates shall be immunized from liability

under the federal and state antitrust laws.