Williamsville Suburban Nursing recommended for closure

Last week the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century released its recommendations for health care facilities to downsize or close throughout New York State. Included in the list of closures was the Williamsville Suburban Nursing facility located at 193 S. Union Road.

Administrators for the facility were not available for comment prior to press time.

The report stated, "The long-term recommendations for downsizing or closing nursing homes will make highly targeted nursing bed reductions of approximately 3,000, or 2.6 percent of the state's supply. Twice as many nursing homes will be downsized as closed."

The commission is a panel created by Gov. George Pataki and the New York State Legislature to undertake review of health care capacity and resources in the state.

According to the commission's mission statement, it was created to ensure that the regional and local supply of hospital and nursing home facilities is best configured to respond to community needs for quality and accessible health care.

The commission is comprised of 18 statewide members and 36 regional members, six from each of six regions.

The commission will be giving the documents to Pataki's review to submit to the state Legislature for final approval. The Legislature will have until the end of December to approve all or deny all of the recommendations.

To view specific criteria of how the commission reviewed hospitals across the state, visit its Web site at www.nyhealthcarecommission.org.