Statement Regarding Statewide Plan for Ventilator Sharing

The Hospital Association of New York State has agreed to serve as a clearinghouse for ventilator needs and availability statewide, in response to the Governor's April 3 announcement of a potential plan to redeploy ventilators to New York City from all Upstate hospitals. Under the HANYS plan, UR Medicine hospitals may not be required to provide breathing equipment to other regions and could receive ventilators from other parts of the state if a shortage develops here. At a news conference April 6, Gov. Cuomo said no New York hospitals need ventilators or personal protective equipment (PPE) at the moment.

Using the HANYS approach, UR Medicine hospitals have identified the number of ventilators and other breathing machines system-wide that could be spared today for hospitals facing shortages in other regions of the state. The clearinghouse approach recognizes that the number of available machines for each hospital system and region will vary continuously as the number of current and projected COVID-19 patients changes.