N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 14, § 580.1 – Background and intent.

(a) This Part is intended to promote the application of the most effective methods, including the use of evidence-based practices, to assist persons with mental illness achieve maximum self-sufficiency while assuring their safety and general well-being.
(b) The Mental Hygiene Law requires certification by the Commissioner of Mental Health for the operation of any part of a general hospital for the purpose of providing, on a residential (i.e., inpatient) basis, examination, diagnosis, care, treatment, rehabilitation or training to anyone with a disorder or disturbance in behavior, feeling, thinking or judgment so severe as to require care and treatment for mental illness. Such a facility may range in scale from a single ward or designated floor to an entire wing or nearby complex of buildings operated as part of a general hospital as defined in article 28 of the Public Health Law.
1. (1) Persons with mental illness may require medical or surgical treatment for conditions other than, and not necessarily related to, mental illness. This Part is not intended to apply to parts of general hospitals which admit patients with mental illness only incidentally to their primary purposes or which provide intensive specialized medical or surgical treatment to patients with mental illness necessitated by events such as attempted suicide.
2. (2) Persons with mental illness may require immediate care and treatment in an emergency at a general hospital which does not regularly operate a psychiatric inpatient unit. This Part is not intended to inhibit the provision of emergency psychiatric services in such circumstances.
3. (3) A general hospital operating a ward, wing or unit for the provision of inpatient psychiatric services must have the prior approval and certification of the commissioner pursuant to Part 551 of this Part. Inpatient psychiatric services that are otherwise provided by general hospitals, such as in the form of an organized program of psychiatric consultation to medical or surgical services, are not subject to this Part, unless they are operated as part of a distinct psychiatric inpatient unit.
(c) This Part prescribes standards for certification. Certification does not confer eligibility to receive financial support from any governmental source.
(d) It is the intent of this Part to foster increased responsibility of psychiatric units to evaluate and review their own services. However, such units must prepare an adequate plan for services which addresses modalities of care, staff training, credentials and experience, sufficiency and appropriateness of staff, patient rights and admission and discharge criteria; and furthermore must establish organizational policies and procedures which will facilitate implementation of the plan.
(e) The provisions of section 580.8 of this Part set forth standards for the physical plant, or premises, of psychiatric inpatient units of general hospitals, and are intended to fully supersede any other regulations in this title previously utilized for this purpose.