Public Health Law § 240 · Title 2-F. Office of Health Equity
Definitions
Text — Law content up to date as of October 9, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
* § 240. Definitions. For the purposes of this article:
1. "Underserved populations" shall mean those who have experienced injustices and disadvantages as a result of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability status, age, immigration status, and/or socioeconomic status, among others as determined by the commissioner of health.
2. "Racially and ethnically diverse area" shall mean a county with a non-white population of forty percent or more, or the service area of an agency, corporation, facility or individual providing medical and/or health services whose non-white population is forty percent or more.
3. "Provider" shall mean any agency, corporation, facility, or individual providing medical and/or health care services to underserved populations.
4. "Office" shall mean the office of health equity, as created pursuant to section two hundred forty-one of this title.
5. "Health equity council" shall mean that advisory body to the commissioner, created pursuant to the provisions of section two hundred forty-three of this title.
6. "Health disparities" shall mean measurable differences in health status, access to care, and quality of care as determined by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, a preferred language other than English, gender expression, disability status, aging population, immigration status, and socioeconomic status.
7. "Health equity" shall mean achieving the highest level of health for all people and shall entail focused efforts to address avoidable inequalities by equalizing those conditions for health for those that have experienced injustices, socioeconomic disadvantages, and systemic disadvantages.
8. "Social determinants of health" shall mean life-enhancing resources, such as availability of healthful foods, quality housing, economic opportunity, social relationships, transportation, education, and health care, whose distribution across populations effectively determines the length and quality of life.
* NB There are 2 § 240's
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 9, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/PBH240%2A2
- Text hash
- sha256 f4dc55b86daadf371a198991dc21bd7a4157762b1092c0cbfa8b45271fa1231d
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
- The Senate's note "There are 2 § 240's": the Legislature enacted more than one unit under that number; each is printed.
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.