ALBANY — New York state health officials say Gov. David Paterson’s budget plan for next year will include moving more funding and patients to less expensive outpatient care instead of long-term hospital stays.

New York Health Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines said the proposal will help prevent serious illness by promoting preventive care and discouraging unnecessary, expensive hospitalizations and emergency room visits.

The changes would also expand access to care for New Yorkers, encouraging more clinics to remain open longer and on weekends to serve the working poor who can’t afford to take time off work, he said.

Paterson’s proposal would also cut Medicaid spending to hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies.

New York spends $2,283 per patient on Medicaid — more than any other state in the country and more than twice the national average of $1,026.

But it wouldn’t cut eligibility or coverage.

It would change the Medicaid payment system to reimburse physicians and hospitals based on the care a patient needed and the severity of the problem.

Some hospitals oppose the timing of the changes, saying they can’t afford additional cuts, or shifts in reimbursement during the current fiscal crisis.

“You don’t go out and fix the roof in the middle of a hurricane,” said William Van Slyke, a spokesman for the Healthcare Association of New York State.

But health officials said the changes are more urgent now than ever.

“A real reform works in a time of crisis,” Daines said. “If you call it reform but it only works when you’ve got a lot more money flowing into the system, it’s really not reform — it’s spending more money.”