ALBANY – Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson will join Albany Medical Center under the new Albany Med Health System, announced Medical Center President and CEO Dr. Dennis McKenna at a news conference on Monday.
The partnership will also include Saratoga Hospital, Glens Falls Hospital and Visiting Nurse System, providing an extensive regional health care network from the mid-Hudson Valley to the North Country.
The four hospitals and visiting nurses will share a common visual identity anchored by the Albany Med Health System name. The brand will also convey the collaborative outreach of adult and pediatric specialties from hospitals to community-based and home-based locations.
“Our people are the backbone of our brand,” said McKenna, who will serve as president and CEO of Albany Med Health System. “We are a team, 16,000 professionals strong, ready to take care of the 3 million people of our region.”
The system consists of 1,520 beds, nearly 100 specialties, 800 physicians and 125 locations including the region’s only children’s hospital, Visiting Nurses, Albany Medical College and a biomedical research facility.
“Columbia Memorial Health is proud of the progress made in building our system,” said CMH President and CEO Jay P. Cahalan. “Connecting our services and clinicians means better coordination of care for our patients.”
A public awareness campaign labeled “With You for Everything” launched at the news conference is emblematic of the moments when life and medicine intersect, McKenna said. Hospital names will remain the same and external signage indicating the transition to the System will begin in 2023.
The hospitals of the system will strengthen their connection through a unified electronic medical record. The introduction of Epic, which will be used throughout the System, allows the entire patient health history to be securely and accurately accessible to every clinician they see within the System.
“A shared and integrated electronic medical record will play a key role in delivering on the promise of Albany Med Health System – increased collaboration, more timely diagnosis and improved and coordinated care,” said Saratoga Hospital president and CEO Jill Johnson VanKuren.
The formation of Albany Med Health System comes as local and statewide health care providers work more closely together to meet growing financial and staffing pressures.
“The ‘mass resignation’ driven by the COVID-19 pandemic led to record numbers of nurses and other staff leaving the healthcare industry, forcing not-for-profit hospitals to turn to for-profit temporary staffing agencies,” McKenna said. “These agencies have increased their hourly rates by 213% compared to pre-pandemic levels in January 2019, leaving hospitals that historically operate on thin financial margins with significant financial losses.”
The expanded partnership makes Albany Med Health System the largest and only local government health care system and the largest private employer in the region, McKenna said.
“With leadership in our hometowns, all decisions are made here, not elsewhere,” he said. “Our patients have driven our growth, and we will remain the team you trust now and for many years to come.”
Albany Medical Center recently eliminated 37 positions as part of a restructuring plan that they hope will increase revenue in the future. Albany Med Health System spokesman Matt Markham said no layoffs or layoffs are anticipated at Columbia Memorial Health as part of the partnership.
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