N.Y. Public Health Law § 2999-r: Other laws

§ 2999-r. Other laws. 1. (a) It is the policy of the state to permit

and encourage cooperative, collaborative and integrative arrangements

among third-party health care payers and health care providers who might

otherwise be competitors under the active supervision of the

commissioner. To the extent that it is necessary to accomplish the

purposes of this article, competition may be supplanted and the state

may provide state action immunity under state and federal antitrust laws

to payors and health care providers.

(b) The commissioner shall engage in state supervision to promote

state action immunity under state and federal antitrust laws and may

inspect, require, or request additional documentation and take other

actions under this article to verify and make sure that this article is

implemented in accordance with its intent and purpose.

2. With respect to the planning, implementation, and operation of

ACOs, the commissioner, by regulation, shall specifically delineate safe

harbors that exempt ACOs from the application of the following statutes:

(a) article twenty-two of the general business law relating to

arrangements and agreements in restraint of trade;

(b) article one hundred thirty-one-A of the education law relating to

fee-splitting arrangements; and

(c) title two-D of article two of this chapter relating to health care

practitioner referrals.

3. For the purposes of this article, an ACO shall be deemed to be a

hospital for purposes of sections twenty-eight hundred five-j,

twenty-eight hundred five-k, twenty-eight hundred five-l and

twenty-eight hundred five-m of this chapter and subdivisions three and

five of section sixty-five hundred twenty-seven of the education law.

4. The commissioner is authorized to seek federal grants, approvals,

and waivers to implement this article, including federal financial

participation under public health coverage. The commissioner shall

provide copies of applications and other documents, including drafts,

submitted to the federal government seeking such federal grants,

approvals, and waivers to the chairs of the senate finance committee,

the assembly ways and means committee, and the senate and assembly

health committees simultaneously with their submission to the federal

government.

5. The commissioner may directly, or by contract with not-for-profit

organizations, provide:

(a) consumer assistance to patients served by an ACO as to matters

relating to ACOs;

(b) technical and other assistance to health care providers

participating in an ACO as to matters relating to the ACO;

(c) assistance to ACOs to promote their formation and improve their

operation, including assistance under section twenty-eight hundred

eighteen of this chapter; and

(d) information sharing and other assistance among ACOs to improve the

operation of ACOs.