N.Y. Public Authorities Law § 3626: Legislative findings and declarations

§ 3626. Legislative findings and declarations. The legislature hereby

finds and declares as follows:

1. Currently, the Erie County Medical Center is a public hospital

owned and operated by the county of Erie.

2. The Erie County Medical Center healthcare network includes a

general hospital, the Erie County Home, and several clinics in Erie

county.

3. The Erie County Medical Center is a tertiary care facility for Erie

county and the seven other counties in western New York and an

affiliated hospital of the health science center at Buffalo of the state

university of New York. As such, the Erie County Medical Center serves

as an integral part of the education and research mission of the state

university and fulfills an important public purpose. The Erie County

Medical Center provides the health science center at Buffalo with the

clinical settings essential to the fulfillment of its public mission to

educate and train physicians, nurses, and other health care

professionals, conducts critical research, and delivers health care

services to the residents of the western New York region.

4. The Erie County Medical Center is the only major public hospital in

western New York and provides certain sophisticated and specialized

patient care services not available in other area hospitals. As the

regional level I trauma center for the eight counties of western New

York, the Erie County Medical Center has earned a reputation for high

quality care. The comprehensive program also features the region's only

burn treatment center, a designated spinal cord injury unit, and a head

trauma unit. Trauma services are supported by a broad scope of

rehabilitation, home care, and outpatient services. The Erie County

Medical Center also is the designated AIDS treatment center for the

eight counties of western New York, the central point of admission into

the local mental health community, and the largest acute care mental

health hospital program in western New York. The Erie County Medical

Center is the leading provider of inpatient and outpatient medical

rehabilitation services in western New York, a major center for

undergraduate and graduate medical education, and a productive source of

clinical and basic science research in rehabilitation medicine. The Erie

County Medical Center also is a recognized leader in providing quality

medical care to the elderly. The Erie County Medical Center healthcare

network's geriatric services program includes the area's only acute

inpatient geriatric unit and nearly eight hundred long term care beds at

both the Erie county home in Alden and a skilled nursing unit at the

Erie County Medical Center.

5. The needs of the residents of the state of New York and of the

county of Erie can best be served by the operation of the Erie County

Medical Center healthcare network through a public benefit corporation

having the legal, financial, and managerial flexibility to take full

advantage of opportunities and challenges presented by the evolving

health care environment.

6. In order to accomplish the purposes recited in this section of

providing health care services and health facilities for the benefit of

the residents of the state of New York and the county of Erie, including

persons in need of health care services without the ability to pay, as

required by law, a public benefit corporation to be known as the Erie

County Medical Center Corporation shall be created to provide such

services and facilities and to otherwise carry out such purposes. The

creation and operation of the Erie County Medical Center Corporation, as

provided in this title, is in all respects for the benefit of the people

of the state of New York and of the county of Erie and is a state,

county, and public purpose. The exercise by such corporation of the

functions, powers, and duties provided in this title constitutes the

performance of an essential public and governmental function.

7. In authorizing the Erie County Medical Center healthcare network to

be operated through a public benefit corporation, it is intended that

the hospital continue as a general, municipal hospital available to the

residents of the city of Buffalo, county of Erie, and western New York

state generally, that the health care services provided by the Erie

County Medical Center healthcare network's hospital, clinics, long term

care facilities, and ancillary facilities by dedicated public employees

who treat tens of thousands of New York residents annually will

continue, and that the network's role as a leading provider of services

to medicaid patients will also continue.