2012 New York Consolidated Laws
PBH - Public Health
Article 29-E - (2999-N - 2999-R) ACCOUNTABLE CARE ORGANIZATIONS
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.