ECMC Achievements

The Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) Healthcare Network is the region's foremost health care provider and one of the country's most modern, functional and efficient health care delivery systems. Our health care network encompasses an advanced academic medical center with 550 inpatient beds and 156 skilled nursing home beds, a base of off-campus health care centers, and the Erie County Home, a 638-bed skilled nursing facility. ECMC is a major teaching environment for the State University of New York at Buffalo. In a recent accreditation award from JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) the Commission noted the high quality of care ECMC provides for residents in the community. ECMC is recognized nationally as a leader and innovator in emergency and trauma care and consistently rated among the best hospitals in New York State in cardiothoracic surgical and general cardiac care services. ECMC is also recognized for a wide range of specialized services.

A portion of the many ECMC accomplishments

• ECMC's state-of-the-art Heart Care Center has earned the highest rating, by New York State, of any local hospital for coronary bypass surgery. ECMC also operates the most advanced digital cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology laboratories in the region.
• ECMC is a leader in kidney transplantation. In 2000, ECMC's kidney transplant program attained 100% survival rate.
• In 2001, ECMC was first in WNY to conduct laparoscopic (minimally invasive) kidney removal for transplantation.
• ECMC was recently ranked among the nation's 100 Top Hospitals in cardiac and intensive care in an independent study released by the Solucient Leadership Institute.
• ECMC treats over 1,500 trauma patients annually as the designated regional adult trauma, burn, and rehabilitation center.
• ECMC maintains the largest inpatient psychiatric service and the only 24-hour psychiatric and chemical dependency emergency program in the region.
• ECMC's spinal cord injury unit is the only one of its kind in the area.
• ECMC offers a unique acute geriatric service providing expert care for residents of over 30 local nursing homes.
• The first computer-based telemedicine system in the world was installed at ECMC in 1994, to provide interactive health care consultation services utilizing the latest computer, video, and tele-communications technology. With over 50 sites, ECMC's emergency telemedicine program is the busiest in New York State and beyond
• ECMC researchers developed the first "Virtual Reality Glove" allowing doctors to store information in a computer system about what they feel during an examination.
• ECMC is one of the first hospitals in the nation and the first in Western New York to conduct limbal (white area of eye, next to cornea) cell transplant surgery.
• In 2000, the world's first digital system for retinal photography was installed at ECMC.
• ECMC installed the only rooftop hospital heliport in the region.
• ECMC maintains interdisciplinary clinical pathways to ensure the highest quality of patient care, resulting in reduced lengths of patient stays.
• According to an ECMC staff survey, employees rate "quality as a top priority," and the vast majority of respondents Òtake pride in their jobs.
• According to the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) Comparative Hospital Report 2000, ECMC's patient outcomes for medical and surgical care are better than those recorded by peer group hospitals in 7 out of 10 categories.

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