N.Y. New York City Health & Hospitals Corporation Act § 5

Current through 2024 NY Law Chapter 202

Section 5 - General powers of the corporation

The corporation shall have the following powers in addition to those specifically conferred elsewhere in this act:

1.To sue and be sued;

2.To have a seal and to alter the same at its pleasure;

3.To adopt, alter, amend or repeal by-laws or rules or regulations for the organization, management, and regulation of its affairs;

4.To borrow money and to issue negotiable notes, bonds or other evidences of indebtedness and to provide for the rights of the holders thereof in accordance with the provisions of this act; provided, however, that the corporation shall not issue bonds, notes or other evidences of indebtedness for the construction of a health facility without the prior approval of the mayor and, in the case of major construction, without first submitting to the mayor a written statement of the chairman of the board stating that the corporation has consulted with the New York State housing finance agency and the New York State health and mental hygiene facilities improvement corporation with respect to such major construction.

5.To make and to execute contracts and leases and all other agreements or instruments necessary or convenient for the exercise of its powers and the fulfillment of its corporate purposes;

6.To acquire, by purchase, gift, devise, lease or sublease, and to accept jurisdiction over and to hold and own, and dispose of by sale, lease or sublease, real or personal property, including but not limited to a health facility, or any interest therein for its corporate purposes; provided, however, that no health facility or other real property acquired or constructed by the corporation shall be sold, leased or otherwise transferred by the corporation without public hearing by the corporation after twenty days public notice and without the consent of the board of estimate of the city;

7.To operate, manage, superintend, and control any health facility under its jurisdiction and to repair, maintain and otherwise keep up any such health facility; and to establish and collect fees, rentals or other charges, including reimbursement allowances, for the sale, lease or sublease of any such health facility, subject to the terms and conditions of any contract, lease, sublease or other agreement with the city;

8.To provide health and medical services for the public directly or by agreement or lease with any person, firm or private or public corporation or association, through and in the health facilities of the corporation and to make rules and regulations governing admissions and health and medical services; and to establish and collect fees and other charges, including reimbursement allowances, for the provision of such health and medical services; and to provide and maintain continuous resident physician and intern medical services; and to sponsor and conduct research, educational and training programs;

9.To provide, maintain and operate an ambulance service to bring patients to or remove them from any health facility of the corporation, and to adopt a schedule of appropriate charges and to provide for the collection thereof;

10.To determine, in accordance with standards established by the administration, the conditions under which a physician may be extended the privilege of practicing within a health facility under the jurisdiction of the corporation, and to promulgate reasonable rules and regulations for the conduct of all persons, physicians and nurses within any such facility;

11.To employ officers, executives, management personnel, and such other employees who formulate or participate in the formulation of the plans, policies, aims, standards, or who administer, manage or operate the corporation and its hospitals or health facilities, or who assist and act in a confidential capacity to persons who are responsible for the formulation, determination and effectuation of management policies concerning personnel or labor relations, or who determine the number of, and appointment and removal of, employees of the corporation, fix their qualifications and prescribe their duties and other terms of employment.

All such personnel shall be excluded from collective bargaining representation.

12.To employ such other employees as may be necessary and except as otherwise provided herein to promulgate rules and regulations relating to the creation of classes of positions, position classifications, title structure, class specifications, examinations, appointments, promotions, voluntary demotions, transfers, re-instatement, procedures relating to abolition or reduction in positions, to determine the number of and to appoint, remove and discipline employees, to prescribe their duties, fix their qualifications, salaries, wages, fringe benefits, hours, work schedules, assignments and re-assignments, leaves of absence, annual leave, other time and leave rules and other terms of employment.

13.To prepare, or cause to be prepared, plans, specifications, designs and estimates of costs for the construction and equipment of health facilities; provided, however, that such plans, specifications, designs and estimates of cost shall, to the extent required by law, be subject to the approval of the council prior to the implementation thereof;

14.To construct and equip, or by contract cause to be constructed and equipped, health facilities, subject to the approval of the council;

15.To apply for and/or to receive and accept any gifts or grants of money, property or services or other aid, including any reimbursement allowance, offered or made available to it by any person, government or agency whatever, for use by the corporation in carrying out its corporate purposes and in the exercise of its powers; and to negotiate for the same upon such conditions as the corporation may determine to be necessary, convenient or desirable; and to comply, subject to the provisions of this act, with the terms of any such gifts, grants or other aid;

16.To invest any funds held in reserves or sinking funds, or any funds not required for immediate use or disbursement, at the discretion of the corporation, in obligations of the city, state or federal government or obligations the principal and interest of which are guaranteed by the city, state or federal government;

17.To procure insurance, or obtain indemnification, against any loss in connection with the assets of the corporation or any liability in connection with the activities of the corporation, such insurance or indemnification to be procured or obtained in such amounts, and from such sources, as the corporation deems to be appropriate;

18.To cooperate with any organization, public or private, including the health and mental hygiene facilities improvement corporation as established by an act entitled the health and mental hygiene facilities improvement act, and the New York state housing finance agency, the objects of which are similar to the purposes of the corporation;

19.To use agents, employees and facilities of the city, subject to such limitations as may be prescribed by collective bargaining agreement, and subject to the consent of the mayor;

20.

(a) To exercise and perform all or part of its purposes, powers, duties, functions or activities through one or more wholly-owned subsidiary public benefit corporations subject to limitations provided herein. The board of the corporation by resolution may direct any of the directors, officers or employees of the corporation to organize any such subsidiary corporation as a public benefit corporation by executing and filing with the secretary of state a certificate of incorporation, which may be amended from time to time by filing with the secretary of state, and which shall set forth the name of such public benefit corporation, its duration, the location of its principal offices and any or all of the powers and purposes of such corporation, provided, however, that no such subsidiary corporations shall be established for the purpose of operating a health facility or the delivery of direct patient care without the prior approval of the mayor and, except in the case of the Harlem Hospital Center or the new Harlem Hospital Center, until at least two years shall have elapsed from the effective date of this act.

(b) No subsidiary corporation shall have the power to engage in collective bargaining or negotiate with any organization representing any of its employees, or to enter into collective bargaining agreements with any such organization. Each such subsidiary corporation shall operate under personnel administration policies, practices, procedures and programs, and terms and conditions of employment of the corporation, including those agreed to in collective bargaining and determined by the comptroller of the city pursuant to section two hundred twenty of the labor law.

(c) Each such subsidiary corporation and any of its properties, functions and activities shall have all of the privileges, immunities, tax exemptions and other exemptions of the corporation and of the corporation's properties, functions and activities except, however, no such subsidiary corporation shall issue bonds and notes or form subsidiary corporations. Each such subsidiary corporation shall be subject to suit in accordance with the provisions of section twenty of this act. Any state, city, commission, agency, officer, department, division or person is authorized to cooperate with and enter into such agreements with a subsidiary corporation subject to the provisions of this act and to any agreement entered into pursuant thereto; provided, however, that each such subsidiary corporation shall be subject to any restrictions, approvals, and limitations to which the corporation may be subject;

20-a.[Effective 5/15/2024 and expires 5/15/2029] To establish employment goals in accordance with the program established pursuant to section 3502 of the New York city charter, including but not limited to employment goals established pursuant to paragraph 7 of subdivision a and the corresponding best efforts provisions set forth in subdivision d of such section; provided, however, that where a provision of such section requires action by the director of the office of community hiring and workforce development, such action shall not be taken by the director of the office of community hiring and workforce development but shall be taken by a duly appointed designee of the corporation; and

21.To do any and all things necessary, convenient or desirable to carry out its corporate purposes, and for the exercise of the powers given to it in this act.

N.Y. New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation Act Law § 5

Amended by New York Laws 2023, ch. 669,Sec. 8, eff. 5/15/2024, exp. 5/15/2029.