Crouse Health and Northwell Health Announce Clinical Affiliation Agreement

Contacts

Crouse Health
Bob Allen, Vice President of Communications & Governmental Affairs
315-399-6661
boballen@crouse.org

Northwell Health
Terry Lynam, Vice President, Public Relations & Chief Communications Officer
516-321-6702/6701
tlynam@northwell.edu

The Board of Directors of Crouse Health have announced that Syracuse-based Crouse Health and New Hyde Park, NY-based Northwell Health have signed a clinical affiliation agreement.

The partnership between Crouse Health and Northwell Health is not a merger or acquisition, but rather a clinical affiliation agreement that will allow both health systems to jointly develop a relationship to share best practices to enhance healthcare services for Central New York patients.

Crouse Health Remains Community Asset
Under the affiliation, Crouse Health will continue to operate as an independent, separately licensed community-based hospital and maintain its existing board governance structure. Additionally, each partner continues to be responsible for its own assets, operations, liabilities and budget. The agreement creates no changes for doctors, nurses or staff.

Northwell Health is New York State’s largest healthcare provider and private employer, with 21 hospitals, over 550 outpatient practices and 61,000 employees. Northwell is also the nation’s 14th largest health system. Crouse Health is a leading regional healthcare provider and a top 10 employer in Central New York, with 3,300 employees between two hospitals, a combined medical staff of over 900 physicians and multiple primary care sites.

“Over the past two years as we have worked to keep Crouse strong and strategically positioned for the dynamic environment we are in, we have been engaged in numerous discussions with multiple organizations, both locally and regionally,” said Crouse Health CEO and President Kimberly Boynton.

“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 Crouse culture, as well as our mission, which is to provide the best in patient care and promote community health,” said Boynton. “This was a thoughtful, focused process, and we were committed to selecting a partner to align with that shared not only our mission, but our core values. We have that in Northwell.”

Partnership Creates Key Strategic Alliance in Upstate New York
“Northwell Health is thrilled by the opportunity to partner with Crouse Health. Working together, our goal is to provide Crouse with the expertise to prosper in this incredibly complex health care environment, and collaborate with the hospital to help improve the health of Central New York residents, which is at the heart of our mission in the New York metropolitan area,” said Michael J. Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health. “For Northwell, this collaboration creates a key strategic alliance in a major upstate hub with a high-quality, financially stable, mission-focused provider that has relationships with numerous other hospitals in the region.”

Northwell, while a significantly larger operation, shares many of the same attributes and qualities as Crouse, says Boynton, including an open and transparent culture, a strategic focus on physician and employee engagement and a commitment to maintaining local governance. In addition, both organizations are focused on continually improving the overall patient experience. “Northwell is a natural fit for Crouse, both culturally and strategically, and we’re excited about the opportunities this partnership presents to our organization and our patients,” said Boynton.

Northwell has significant experience and expertise in areas such as care management, quality improvement, population health, data analytics and other key operational areas that will be of significant benefit to Crouse as healthcare transitions from a fee-for-service to a value-based model of care delivery, according to Crouse Chief Medical Officer Seth Kronenberg, MD.

Affiliation Provides Great Potential for Region
“Our partnership with Northwell only helps strengthen Crouse’s clinically integrated health network and we look forward to the great potential this affiliation provides – not only for both partners, but for the region as well,” states Dr. Kronenberg, who adds that telemedicine and population health are two critical areas Northwell and Crouse will be evaluating. In addition, sharing ‘best practices’ across the two organizations – clinical and operational – and taking advantage of other economies of scale will be a focus of the affiliation as planning moves forward, according to Dr. Kronenberg.

Crouse Health already has an affiliation, established in 2013, with Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton, NY. This relationship is expected to be enhanced under the Crouse/Northwell agreement, according to Boynton. “As we look at the care delivery system in our marketplace, Community Memorial remains a key strategic partner in care for the Madison County region.”

“This is an exciting development in the 130-year history of Crouse Health,” says Boynton of the Crouse/Northwell affiliation. “As a trusted community asset and major regional employer, we are looking forward to growing our partnership to benefit healthcare delivery throughout Central New York.

About Northwell Health
Northwell Health is New York State’s largest health care provider and private employer, with 21 hospitals and over 550 outpatient facilities. We care for more than two million people annually in the metro New York area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 61,000 employees – 15,000+ nurses and nearly 3,400 physicians, including nearly 2,700 members of Northwell Health Physician Partners — are working to change health care for the better. We’re making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institute. We’re training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine and the School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. And we offer health insurance through CareConnect.

About Crouse Health
Crouse Health is a leading regional healthcare provider and a top 10 employer in Central New York, with 3,300 employees between two hospitals (Crouse and Community Memorial), a combined medical staff of over 900 physicians and multiple primary care sites. Crouse is Central New York’s largest provider of maternity care services, delivering 4,000 babies annually, and is the designated regional referral center for high-risk neonatal intensive care services. Other areas of specialty include comprehensive diagnostic and interventional cardiac care (Crouse is home to CNY’s only pediatric cardiac catheterization program); internal medicine; surgical services (including the latest advancements in bariatric, GYN oncology and robotic surgery); orthopedics; neurosciences/stroke care; oncology; and the region’s only hospital-based chemical dependency treatment services for adolescents, adults and seniors. Crouse also operates the Pomeroy College of Nursing, providing critical nursing education to more than 300 students annually.