2023 New York Laws › PBA - Public Authorities › Article 10-C - New York Health Care Corporations › Title 6 - Erie County Medical Center Corporation › 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.