Amherst IDA Gives Tax Breaks to Proposed Urgent Care Facility

By David Robinson

A proposed urgent care facility on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Amherst was granted nearly $200,000 in tax breaks Friday by the Amherst Industrial Development Agency, despite concerns by some board members that the project could hurt efforts to keep St. Joseph Hospital in Cheektowaga open.

The board, by a 4-1 vote with one abstention, granted $196,864 in sales, property and mortgage tax breaks to Exigence LLC to build a 6,000-square-foot urgent care facility at 2099 Niagara Falls Blvd.

While medical projects of that type usually do not qualify for aid under the countywide eligibility policy for IDAs, the Amherst agency determined that it could provide incentives under an exception that allows aid for medical services that generally are not available.

A similar facility, touted as a less expensive alternative to hospital emergency rooms, is operated by Exigence on Transit Road in Amherst, but it did not receive any aid from the IDA, said James J. Allen, the agency’s executive director.

But the Niagara Falls Boulevard project was deemed to be eligible because a state commission has since recommended the increased use of urgent care facilities as a more affordable and efficient way of delivering after-hours care for patients with broken bones and other less serious injuries and illnesses, Allen said.

Patients at an urgent care facility typically are treated in less than an hour, while waits can often reach four to six hours at emergency rooms for patients with less serious conditions, said Irv Levy, Exigence’s chief financial officer.

While a visit to a hospital emergency room can cost upwards of $1,000, a visit to an urgent care facility typically averages around $175, he said.

“You can’t say there’s not an unavailability of emergency care,” Allen said. “But you can make the case that it’s not the most efficient or cost effective manner of care.”

Frederick A. Vilonen, the IDA’s new chairman, expressed concern about aiding a new medical facility at a time when a state commission is recommending that several local hospitals be closed.

“There’s an unease about setting up competition with what appears to be a failing system,” said Vilonen, who ultimately voted in favor of the tax breaks.

Board member Robert Ciesielski voted against the tax breaks out of concern that it would hinder efforts to keep St. Joseph Hospital in Cheektowaga open. The hospital is part of the Catholic Health System, which would become a partner in the urgent care facility if state officials approve a certificate of need for the project that also would allow it to accept Medicaid patients.

C. Anthony Lyons, a Catholic Health Systems vice president, said the project would not hurt St. Joseph Hospital because it is far enough away from the proposed facility. He also said it would ease the strain on emergency rooms.

“This is the direction health care is taking across the country. We think it will really augment the health care in Western New York,” he said.

Levy said Exigence would not go forward with the project without the IDA aid and responded to suggestions that the agency delay action on the incentives by warning that the company’s contract to acquire the Niagara Falls Boulevard property expires in 60 days.

IDA board member Randall Clark, who is chairman of health insurer Univera Healthcare’s regional advisory board, abstained from the vote.

e-mail: drobinson@buffnews.com

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