CONTACT:
Andy LaGuardia
WMCHealth
(914) 493-6532
andrew.laguardia@wmchealth.org
Lynn Nichols,
HealthAlliance
(845) 334-3116
lynn.nichols@hahv.org
HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley Becomes the Latest Member of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network
KINGSTON, N.Y. (March 30, 2016) – The Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) and HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley (HealthAlliance) today announced an important agreement that will enhance and expand healthcare for an entire region, while keeping essential services close to home for those who need them.
"We couldn't be happier with the relationship," said David Scarpino, President and CEO, HealthAlliance. "It ensures that our community will receive the highest-quality healthcare, locally, now and well into the future. The agreement strengthens HealthAlliance's existing healthcare offerings while providing new and more advanced services to meet a full range of patient needs.
"Furthermore, HealthAlliance and WMCHealth share a vision for an innovative, healthcaredelivery system," Scarpino continued. "This vision includes the continuation of critical-access and skilled-nursing services in Margaretville, the development of HealthAlliance Hospital: Mary's Avenue Campus into a single hospital with sophisticated medical technologies, and the evolution of HealthAlliance Hospital: Broadway Campus into a ‘medical village' concept to bring a variety of much-needed community ambulatory services under one roof."
"Like our recent partnerships with MidHudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie and Bon Secours Charity Health System, which has hospitals in Suffern, Warwick and Port Jervis, this relationship with HealthAlliance furthers WMCHealth's goal of preserving and improving services in existing Hudson Valley healthcare facilities so local families can benefit from highquality care close to home," explained Michael D. Israel, President and CEO, Westchester Medical Center Health Network. "HealthAlliance has been — and now will continue to be — a conduit for high-quality care for Ulster and Delaware County residents, and WMCHealth will play an integral role in ensuring the continuation and enhancement of these services."
"Our community can be proud of this relationship, which many people worked long and hard to complete," said HealthAlliance board Chairman Thomas Collins. "It brings to our hospital system a financially stable, comprehensive health network that's based in the Hudson Valley. This relationship makes our community hospitals attractive, with WMCHealth's commitment to bringing the best specialty physicians to our facilities, complementing the excellent doctors already here, and to making other advancements so HealthAlliance becomes our region's hospital of choice. We'll still be known for our convenience and personal touch, but we'll also be recognized for our high patient satisfaction, awarded for our exceptional clinical outcomes, and privileged to have the finest physicians and employees."
Mitchell C. Hochberg, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Westchester County Health Care Corporation, which operates WMCHealth, said the network is in a strong position to add HealthAlliance to its growing system. "WMCHealth has the clinical, financial and operational experience necessary to help Hudson Valley healthcare organizations thrive. We have collaborated with the Hudson Valley's community hospitals for more than 30 years and, in recent times, successfully integrated multiple hospitals and healthcare services — spread across the region — into our network. The Hudson Valley is our home, and we are reshaping healthcare here to ensure the highest quality of care is available nearby for our friends and neighbors."
HealthAlliance is a member of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network, effective immediately. WMCHealth will be the sole corporate member of HealthAlliance and will oversee its hospital operations, as well as operations at other HealthAlliance facilities.
Israel noted that New York State recently announced nearly $1.2 billion in healthcare awards for hospitals and health systems in New York. The grant awards are transformational for WMCHealth, with the infusion of $88.8 million for the Kingston campuses and $24.5 million toward the development of a robust medical village in Port Jervis — all critical to the continued provision of healthcare services for those communities.
The evolutions of HealthAlliance Hospital: Mary's Avenue Campus and HealthAlliance Hospital: Broadway Campus are key components of a "Healthy Neighborhood Initiative" collaboration between HealthAlliance and Kingston-area educational institutions, city and county agencies, community organizations and other local healthcare providers."
With a planned renovation and expansion and through collaboration with WMCHealth's strategic partner and international technology leader Royal Philips, HealthAlliance Hospital: Mary's Avenue Campus will become one of the Northeast's most advanced community hospitals. It will provide exceptional surgical, diagnostic and therapeutic services through the use of the world's most advanced medical technologies while continuing to emphasize patient comfort, safety, efficiency and quality of care.
Under the medical village concept, HealthAlliance Hospital: Broadway Campus will become an innovative neighborhood focal point for health and human-service needs. There, area residents will benefit from a one-stop, integrated primary care, behavioral health and outpatient destination where HealthAlliance, WMCHealth and community partners will provide the finest conventional and integrative health, wellness and support services.
About HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley®
HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley® is the alignment of HealthAlliance Hospital: Mary's Avenue Campus and Broadway Campus in Kingston, New York, and Margaretville Hospital and Mountainside Residential Care Center in Margaretville, New York. As the parent organization with a unified governance structure, the goal of HealthAlliance is to strengthen the quality of care and bring forward enhanced technology to serve the present and future healthcare needs in the Hudson Valley. HealthAlliance and its affiliate facilities are committed to providing compassionate, patient-centered care and ensuring patient safety, privacy and dignity to all. For further information about HealthAlliance, visit our website at www.hahv.org.
About Westchester Medical Center Health Network
The Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) is a 1,700-bed healthcare system headquartered in Valhalla, New York, with 10 hospitals on seven campuses spanning 6,200 square miles of the Hudson Valley. WMCHealth employs more than 12,000 people and has nearly 3,000 attending physicians. From Level 1, Level 2 and Pediatric Trauma Centers, the region's only acute care children's hospital, an academic medical center, several community hospitals, dozens of specialized institutes and centers, skilled nursing, assisted living facilities, homecare services and one of the largest mental health systems in New York State, today WMCHealth is the pre-eminent provider of integrated healthcare in the Hudson Valley. For more information about WMCHealth, visit www.WMCHealth.org.
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