Senate Bill 2904 - Health Care Collaboration Act of 2017

• Authorizes establishment of the University of Mississippi Medical Center Healthcare Commission within the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning to assist in management and control of UMMC.

• Creates authority for health care collaboratives to be organized as public nonprofit corporations with boards of directors appointed by the sponsoring university and approved by the Board of Trustees.

• Grants health care collaboratives broad powers including acquiring/operating health care facilities, issuing bonds and indebtedness (limited to 40-year maturity), pledging revenues, and entering into contracts without state procurement law restrictions.

• Exempts health care collaboratives from state taxation on property, indebtedness income, and sales/use taxes for health care facility operations; exempts them from state ethics laws, Open Meetings Act, and Public Records Act.

• Clarifies that all collaborative indebtedness is solely the obligation of the collaborative, not the state, and provides antitrust immunity when collaboratives exercise their authorized powers for public health missions.