# New York State Department of Health

The New York State Department of Health is the department of the New York state government responsible for public health. Its regulations are compiled in title 10 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations.

## Public health infrastructure

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes the public health infrastructure as three components: workforce capacity and competency: the recruitment, continuing education, and retention of health professionals; organizational capacity: the consortium of public health agencies and laboratories, working with private and nonprofit organizations; and information and data systems: the up-to-date guidelines, recommendations and health alerts, and the information and systems that monitor disease and enable efficient communication.
New York State relies on a county-based system for delivery of public health services. The Department of Health promotes the prevention and disease control, environmental health, healthy lifestyles, and emergency preparedness and response; supervises local health boards; oversees reporting and vital records; conducts surveillance of hospitals; does research at the Wadsworth Center; and administers several other health insurance programs and institutions. 58 local health departments offer core services including assessing community health, disease control and prevention, family health, and health education; 37 localities provide environmental health services, while the other 21 rely on the state's Department of Health.
At the local level, public health workers are found not only in local health agencies but also in private and nonprofit organizations concerned with the public's health. The most common professional disciplines are physicians, nurses, environmental specialists, laboratorians, health educators, disease investigators, outreach workers, and managers, as well as other allied health professions. Nurses represented 22% of the localities' workforce (and 42% of full-time equivalent workers in rural localities), scientific/investigative staff represented 22%–27% of the workforce, support staff represented 28%, education/outreach staff represented 10%, and physicians represented 1%. In 2018 the New York State Department of Health had over 3300 personnel in its central office, three regional offices, three field offices and nine district health offices, and an additional 1400 personnel in its five healthcare institutions.

## Medical assistance

The Department, through the NY State of Health marketplace, manages eligibility and enrollment for Medicaid applicants.

## Statewide Health Information Network

The Statewide Health Information Network for New York (SHIN-NY, pronounced "shiny") is a health information exchange that allows healthcare providers to access and share patient data, managed by the nonprofit New York eHealth Collaborative. The Regional Health Information Organizations include:
* Hixny in the Hudson Valley, Capital Region, and parts of the Southern Tier and North Country
* Healthix in Greater New York
* BronxRHIO in The Bronx
* Rochester RHIO in Rochester, the Finger Lakes, and Southern Tier
* HEALTHeLINK in Buffalo and Western New York
* HealtheConnections in Central New York and the Southern Tier

## History

The earliest New York state laws regarding public health were quarantine laws for the port of New York, first passed by the New York General Assembly in 1758. The 1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic precipitated the 1799–1800 creation of the New York Marine Hospital, and in 1801 its resident physician and the health officers of the port were constituted as the New York City board of health. The 1826–1837 cholera pandemic precipitated further legislation. In 1847 a law mandated civil registration of vital events (births, marriages, and deaths). In 1866, the state legislature passed the Metropolitan Health Law and established the NYC Metropolitan Board of Health, and in 1870 the legislature replaced it with the NYC Department of Health.
The State Board of Health was created 18 May 1880 by the 103rd Legislature. The 1881–1896 cholera pandemic further caused an expansion of its powers to compel reporting and to perform the duties of local boards of health. The State Department of Health and its commissioner were created by an act of 19 February 1901 of the 124th Legislature, superseding the board.
The state implemented Medicaid in 1966 and designated the state Department of Social Services as the "single state agency" but required it to contract with the Health Department. The Social Services Department and local social districts were responsible for eligibility determinations and paying claims, while the Health Department and local health districts were responsible for settings standards (including fees schedules) and supervising and surveilling providers. In 2012, the Health Department started assuming administrative responsibilities for Medicaid from the counties. Previous legislation passed in 2010 as a result of the Affordable Care Act called on the Health Department to create and implement a plan for such a transfer.

## List of commissioners

| Name | Dates in Office | Governors Served | Comments |
| Daniel Lewis | March 6, 1901 – Early 1905 | Benjamin B. Odell, Jr. | Previously was President of the State Board of Health, which became the Department of Health, and served out full term |
| Eugene H. Porter | May 1905 – Early 1914 | Frank W. Higgins, Charles Evans Hughes, Horace White, John Alden Dix, William Sulzer, Martin H. Glynn | Served out his term |
| Hermann M. Biggs | January 19, 1914 – June 28, 1923 | Martin H. Glynn, Charles S. Whitman, Alfred E. Smith, Nathan L. Miller | Died while serving |
| Matthias Nicoll Jr. | July 12, 1923 – January 11, 1930 | Alfred E. Smith, Franklin D. Roosevelt | Resigned to become Commissioner of the Westchester County (New York) Department of Health |
| Thomas J. Parran, Jr. | March 5, 1930 – May 6, 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt, Herbert Lehman | Resigned to become Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service |
| Edward S. Godfrey | April 21, 1936 – May 1, 1947 | Herbert Lehman, Charles Poletti, Thomas E. Dewey | Retired |
| Herman E. Hilleboe | July 1, 1947 – January 7, 1963 | Thomas E. Dewey, W. Averell Harriman, Nelson A. Rockefeller | Became head of the Division of Public Health Practice at the Columbia University School of Public Health |
| Hollis S. Ingraham | January 7, 1963? – January 2, 1975 | Nelson A. Rockefeller | Served out full term |
| Robert P. Whalen | January 2, 1975 – April 29, 1975 (acting) April 29, 1975 – December 31,1978 | Hugh Carey | Resigned to become Vice chairman of the New York State Health Planning Commission |
| David Axelrod | January 1, 1979 – May 12, 1991 | Hugh Carey, Mario M. Cuomo | Resigned after a severe stroke |
| Lorna McBarnette | February 25, 1991 – June 9, 1992 | Mario M. Cuomo | Acting |
| Mark R. Chassin | June 9, 1992 – December 31, 1994 | Mario M. Cuomo | Served out full term |
| Barbara Ann DeBuono | Early February 1995 – November 1, 1998 | George E. Pataki | Resigned to become an executive in the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System |
| Dennis P. Whalen | November 1, 1998 – June 1999 | George E. Pataki | Acting |
| Antonia C. Novello | June 1999 – December 31, 2006 | George E. Pataki | Served out full term |
| Richard F. Daines | February 2007 – December 31, 2010 | Eliot Spitzer, David Paterson | Served out full term |
| Nirav R. Shah | January 24, 2011 – May 4, 2014 | Andrew Cuomo | Resigned to become chief operating officer at Kaiser Permanente in Southern California |
| Howard A. Zucker | May 4, 2014 – May 5, 2015 (acting) May 5, 2015 – December 1, 2021 | Andrew Cuomo, Kathy Hochul | Part of Governor Cuomo and Hochul's COVID-19 task force during the pandemic |
| Mary T. Bassett | December 1, 2021 – January 1, 2023 | Kathy Hochul | Part of Governor Hochul's COVID-19 task force during the pandemic |
| James V. McDonald | January 1, 2023 – June 9, 2023 (acting) June 9, 2023 – current | Kathy Hochul | Current commissioner |