The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) is the department of the New York state government responsible for

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

. It is headed by Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett, who was appointed by Governor Hochul and confirmed by the Senate on December 1, 2021.New York State Department of Health
"Commissioner biography"
/ref> Its regulations are compiled in title 10 of the ''

New York Codes, Rules and Regulations The ''New York Codes, Rules and Regulations'' (NYCRR) contains New York state rules and regulations. The NYCRR is officially compiled by the New York State Department of State's Division of Administrative Rules. Contents See also * '' New York ...

''.

Public health infrastructure

The

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georg ...

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. Nurse Pinning Ceremony 2015 (17520908552)

Nurse Pinning Ceremony 2015 (17520908552)

New York relies on a county-based system for delivery of public health services. NYSDOH 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 The Wadsworth Center, located in Albany, New York, is the research-intensive public health laboratory of the New York State Department of Health. History The Wadsworth Center, originally the New York State's Antitoxin Laboratory, was established i ...

; 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 NYSDOH. 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, but also includes

allied health professions Allied health professions are health care professions distinct from optometry, dentistry, nursing, medicine, and pharmacy. They provide a range of diagnostic, technical, therapeutic, and support services in connection with health care. Definit ...

. Nurses represented 22% of the localities' workforce (and 42% of

full-time equivalent Full-time equivalent (FTE), or whole time equivalent (WTE), is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person (or student) in a way that makes workloads or class loads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to measure a ...

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 NYSDOH 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.

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 The General Assembly of New York, commonly known internationally as the New York General Assembly, and domestically simply as General Assembly, was the supreme legislative body of the Province of New York during its period of proprietal colon ...

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 The second cholera pandemic (1826–1837), also known as the Asiatic cholera pandemic, was a cholera pandemic that reached from India across Western Asia to Europe, Great Britain, and the Americas, as well as east to China and Japan.Note: ...

precipitated further legislation. In 1847 a law mandated

civil registration Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events ( births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in differ ...

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.Chapter 29
of the Laws of 1901, pages 31–37, enacted 19 February 1901, at § 4.

List of commissioners

References

External links

*
Department of Health
in the

Department of Health
in Open NY (https://data.ny.gov/)
New York State Department of Health
recipient profile on USAspending.gov
Department of Health
contracts on Open Book New York from the

New York State Department of Audit and Control The New York State Comptroller is an elected constitutional officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the New York state government's Department of Audit and Control. The New York State Comptroller is the highest-paid state auditor or ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:New York State Department Of Health

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...

State departments of health of the United States 1901 establishments in New York (state) Government agencies established in 1901 Health departments in the United States