Section 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.