BILL NUMBER:S4949

TITLE OF BILL:  An act in relation to directing the commissioner of
health to conduct a study on the feasibility of creating a burn center
in Kings County Medical Center in collaboration with SUNY Downstate
Medical Center's University Hospital of Brooklyn

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:  To study the viability and cost of a
facility that would fill a medical services void for burn victims in
Brooklyn.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:  This bill would establish a study to
determine the feasibility of creating a burn unit in SUNY Downstate
Medical Center's University Hospital of Brooklyn, which could be
located in an under-utilized or unused retrofitted former inpatient
area.

JUSTIFICATION:  There are currently only three burn units for burn
victims in New York City: New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan,
Jacoby Hospital in the Bronx, and Staten Island University Hospital
North. However, the only New York burn center to meet the
qualifications for the American Burn Association is the William
Randolph Hearst Burn Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Moreover, it is inexplicable that Brooklyn as the fourth largest
municipality in the nation does not have a burn center.

              

The number of major fires in Brooklyn has been increasing as of late.
One can only speculate that this may be attributable to increases in
the value of property - commercial or residential - in a current
market wherein the destruction of space make way for higher end and
luxury real estate. In addition to the lives lost in these fires,
there were many more injured. A number of victims were severely burned
and at times permanently disfigured because they were unable to
receive immediate treatment. It should be our goal to develop a burn
center in a Brooklyn hospital for the provision of optimal care to
burn patients from the time of injury through rehabilitation. We must
address this void in the provision of health care for our Brooklyn
constituency.

It is necessary that a burn center is created to provide optimal care
to burn patients. This requires quick access to facilities, benefits
from association with teaching and fellowship programs associated with
the American College of Surgeons and the Accreditation Council for
Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:  None.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:  Approximately $1,250,000 to conduct a
feasibility study to establish a burn unit at Kings County Hospital in
collaboration with the trauma center at SUNY Downstate Medical
Center's University Hospital of Brooklyn.

It is estimated that the project would cost approximately $25 million
for renovation, fixed and moveable equipment and additional staffing.

Funding for the feasibility study is available under the governor's
current $700 million appropriation for Kings County "health care


facility transformation in Kings County" specifically for capital,
non-operational works.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  Effective immediately.