Auburn Community Hospital, St. Joseph’s Health and University of Rochester Medical Center Announce Collaboration Agreement
December 13, 2017December 13, 2017 – The Board of Trustees of Auburn Community Hospital (ACH) in Auburn, N.Y., has approved a Collaboration Agreement with St. Joseph’s Health in Syracuse, N.Y., and the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) in Rochester, N.Y. The agreement enables the three health systems to jointly develop and share new programs and services to enhance care for Central New York. ACH will continue to operate as an independent, separately licensed community hospital and maintain its existing board governance structure.
The agreement is designed to improve community health and quality of care for Auburn-area residents by sharing information and resources across the three systems. Health professionals in Auburn will be able to more easily collaborate with those in Syracuse and Rochester, and patients will benefit from easier access to the services of the larger hospitals. Whether they receive care close to home or need more specialized care in Syracuse or Rochester, patients can find nearly any service they need within this collaborative network.
ACH is the largest employer in Cayuga County, with a workforce of over 1,000 employees. The Hospital has a combined medical staff of more than 300 medical professionals and multiple primary care sites. Today, ACH is a Health Care Delivery System that includes the Hospital, an 80-bed Long Term Care and Rehabilitation Center, 3 Urgent Care Centers, as well as Primary Care and Specialty Care Services.
"Over the past 10 years as we have worked to keep ACH strong and strategically-positioned for the dynamic environment we are in, we have been engaged in numerous discussions with multiple organizations," said Scott Berlucchi CEO. "Among the key criteria our board, physician leadership and senior leadership team used to evaluate potential partners was a strong alignment and compatibility with the ACH culture as well as our mission, which is to provide the best in patient care and promote population health. This was a thoughtful and focused process, and we were steadfast that whichever partner we chose to align with had to be in sync not only with our mission, but also with our core values. I am confident that we have these synergies with St. Joseph’s Health and URMC.” The agreement commits the three health systems to work more closely together to identify and meet the overall community healthcare needs.
“As our health care system evolves, there is a growing need for us to work with larger health systems to improve access to specialty services right here in Cayuga County,” Berlucchi said. “In this case, we have the opportunity to formalize a long-standing relationship with one of the premier hospital systems in Central New York with St. Joseph’s Health, and the region’s largest academic medical center, the University of Rochester Medical Center. We believe this mean greater convenience and more comprehensive care for our local patients and their families.”
As part of this new relationship, St. Joseph’s Health and URMC will support ACH’s primary care network, and help develop care management programs and other services that will position the hospital and its affiliates to meet the challenges of population health. St. Joseph’s Health and URMC will also assist ACH with physician recruitment, quality improvement initiatives and the sharing of other best practices to increase clinical and operational efficiencies, and improve patient safety and the overall patient experience. We expect new services to include: Neurology, Cancer Care, Orthopedics, and Cardiology, among others.
“While St. Joseph’s Health has been providing specialty care for patients living in Auburn for many years, this collaboration will enhance the coordination of care for patients, making it easier for them to navigate the healthcare system,” said Leslie Paul Luke, president and CEO at St. Joseph’s Health. “Auburn Community Hospital and its board have been visionary in planning for the community’s needs, and they have our praise for these efforts. They will now have a direct connection to our award-winning services, which will help them provide their patients with the best care possible in their home communities.”
“Today’s announcement supports our goal of helping patients to receive high-quality health care close to home across Upstate New York, without traveling farther than Rochester for their most advanced medical needs,” said Steven I. Goldstein, vice president of URMC who serves as president and CEO of Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. “This agreement reflects our medical center’s high regard for the health care professionals, staff and management of Auburn Community Hospital. We look forward to collaborating with them and St. Joseph’s Health to expand care options for families in Cayuga County and across Central New York.”
St. Joseph’s Health
St. Joseph’s Health is a non-profit regional health care system based in Syracuse, N.Y., providing services to patients throughout Central New York and northern Pennsylvania. From primary to specialty to home care, to our Magnet-recognized hospital, and in collaboration with our community partners, St. Joseph's Health is advancing the health of the communities we serve through an expanding range of healthcare services to ensure our patients achieve optimum long-term health. Ranked by Consumer Reports among the top 15 heart surgery centers in the country, U.S. News “Best Regional Hospital” and a 15-time winner of the National Research Corporation Consumer Choice award, St. Joseph’s is widely recognized for quality, value and delivering the highest patient satisfaction. St. Joseph’s Health is affiliated with Franciscan Companies and St. Joseph’s Physicians and is a member of Trinity Health.
University of Rochester Medical Center
One of the nation’s leading academic medical centers, the University of Rochester Medical Center forms the centerpiece of the University of Rochester’s health research, teaching and patient care missions. Over the past five years, URMC has garnered more than $1.18 billion in biomedical research, landing the UR School of Medicine and Dentistry in the top 26th percentile of U.S. medical centers in federal research funding. URMC’s flagship facility, Strong Memorial Hospital, is designated by the New York State Department of Health as a Level One regional trauma and burn center. It is home to nationally renowned clinical care and research, including Upstate New York’s only cardiac and liver transplant programs, the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience, Golisano Children’s Hospital of Rochester, and the Wilmot Cancer Institute, Upstate’s busiest cancer center providing comprehensive cancer care with expertise in precision medicine, complex cancers and clinical trials. With a solid reputation for quality, Strong Memorial offers some of the top clinical programs in the nation as recognized by US News & World Report, and has earned the National Research Corp. “Consumer Choice Award” each year since the honor’s inception in 1996.
Auburn Community Hospital (ACH) is a not-for-profit, 99-bed acute care facility with a mission to provide compassionate quality care to our community. ACH is the sole provider of acute and general hospital services in Cayuga County and the surrounding areas located in the Finger Lakes region of Central New York. ACH has been recognized by National Organizations for the following services:
The Hospital’s Stroke Center received the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association’s highest level of award, the GOLD PLUS Achievement Award for the diagnosis, care and treatment of its stroke patients.
The Finger Lakes Center for Living has been awarded The People’s Choice Award again as being the “Best in the Region.” The Finger Lakes Center for Living ranks in the top 20% of NYS Nursing Homes for the Quality Care of its residents.
The Hospital was named as one of America’s “Most Wired” Hospitals by the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Health Forum.
ACH offers a state-of-the-art 3.0 Tesla MRI system that has been accredited by the American College of Radiology.
The FingerLakes Bariatric Center has been certified by The American College of Surgeons (ACS). Additionally the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) has accredited the FingerLakes Bariatric Center as a Comprehensive Center for Bariatric Surgery.
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