Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 37 - EDUCATION (§§ 37-NEW-001 — 37-NEW01-004) › Chapter 115 - UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI (§§ 37-115-1 — 37-115-131) › UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI MEDICAL CENTER; JOINT-PURCHASING ARRANGEMENTS, JOINT VENTURES, JOINT-OPERATING AGREEMENTS, ETC (§§ 37-115-50 — 37-115-50.3) › Section 37-115-50.3 - Additional powers of the academic medical center and its health care collaboratives

(1)
In addition to all powers granted in Section
37-115-50.1
, subject to any required approval of the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, the academic medical center and its health care collaboratives (acting individually or collectively) shall be empowered under this section:
(a)
To acquire hospitals, health care facilities and other health care-related operations and assets, through direct purchase, merger, consolidation, lease or other means;
(b)
To form, establish, fund and operate nonprofit corporations, nonprofit limited liability companies, state-sponsored entities or other similar organizations, either directly or through a nonprofit corporation formed by the academic medical center and its health care collaboratives (acting individually or collectively), which are jointly owned with other public or private hospitals, for-profit or nonprofit corporations, or other health care-related organizations, for the purpose of conducting activities within or outside of the service area the academic medical center or its health care collaboratives for the benefit of the academic medical center and its health care collaboratives including, but not limited to, joint hospital acquisitions, group purchasing, clinically integrated networks, payor contracting, and joint requests for federal and state grants and funding;
(c)
To make capital contributions, loans, debt or equity financing to or for any joint venture or similar arrangement in which the academic medical center and its health care collaboratives (acting individually or collectively), or any nonprofit corporation formed or owned by the academic medical center or one of its health care collaboratives, has or acquires an ownership interest, and to guarantee loans and any other obligations for such purposes;
(d)
To have an ownership interest in, make capital contributions to, and assume financial risk under, accountable care organizations or similar organizations;
(e)
To enter into any contract for a term of any length, regardless of whether the length or term of the contract exceeds the term of the board of trustees of a health care collaborative;
(f)
To create, establish, acquire, operate or support subsidiaries and affiliates, either for-profit or nonprofit, to assist the academic medical center and its health care collaboratives (acting individually or collectively) in fulfilling its purposes;
(g)
To create, establish or support nonaffiliated for-profit or nonprofit corporations or other lawful business organizations that operate and have as their purposes the furtherance of the purposes of the academic medical center and its health care collaboratives (acting individually or collectively);
(h)
Without limiting the generality of any provisions of this section, to accomplish and facilitate the creation, establishment, acquisition, operation or support of any such subsidiary, affiliate, nonaffiliated corporation or other lawful business organization, by means of loans of funds, acquisition or transfer of assets, leases of real or personal property, gifts and grants of funds or guarantees of indebtedness of such subsidiaries, affiliates and nonaffiliated corporations; and
(i)
Subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning (where applicable), to exercise all powers granted under this section in such a manner as the academic medical center and its health care collaboratives (acting individually or collectively) may determine to be consistent with the purposes of Sections
37-115-50
through 37-115-50.3, including the state action immunity provided by Section
37-115-50.2
from state and federal antitrust laws to the fullest extent possible, notwithstanding that as a consequence of such exercise of such powers it engages in activities that may be deemed "anticompetitive" or which displace competition within the meaning or contemplation of the antitrust laws of this state or of the United States.
Added by Laws, 2023, ch. 453, SB 2323,§ 5, eff. 3/30/2023.