SLCH Partnership With MHS is Officially Approved

NEWBURGH – It has been two years since St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital announced their affiliation with Montefiore Health System. Last Wednesday, in a room full of elected officials and community partners, SLCH announced that their partnership with MHS has officially been approved by the New York State Health Commissioner, to make MHS the parent and co-operator of the Orange County-based hospital.

According to hospital officials, the State of New York Public Health and Health Planning Council approved the relationship in late 2017, which was followed by approval from the State Health Commissioner in January. MHS and SLCH combined are a key component of Montefiore’s regional strategy, which offers access to cutting edge academic medicine, research and quality care, both locally and throughout the region.

“Your values are our values,” said Steven M. Safyer MD, President and CEO Montefiore Medicine. “This is such a proud moment: the final step in the process of joining our systems in order to expand the best of value-based care and clinical excellence to the region.” He said they will continue to offer comprehensive healthcare to all, which needs to be local, but emphasized the need to keep people healthy and out of the hospital.

Throughout the last two years, MHS and SLCH have worked to integrate the community hospital into the larger system with the addition of programs and services, with a focus on population health management. Since that time, SLCH has added Thoracic Surgery, with physician leadership from White Plains Hospital and also expanded its physical medicine footprint as a result of a partnership with Burke Rehabilitation Hospital; both members of the Montefiore Health System. SLCH has also grown its Oncology Program significantly, including the addition of a new Medical Director of Radiation Oncology as well as a breast and plastic surgeon to provide comprehensive cancer care to the community.

“The Montefiore name is known both nationally and internationally, as a leader and an innovator,” said Joan Cusack-McGuirk, SLCH President and CEO. “It is a privilege to work alongside Dr. Safyer, a visionary in the contemporary delivery of healthcare, both locally and at the national level. Together, the possibilities of what we can do for our community are endless. Montefiore’s mission is to heal, to teach, to discover and to enhance the health of the communities we serve. This could not be more closely aligned with SLCH.”

SLCH becomes the 10th hospital in the Montefiore system, including those in Westchester and Rockland counties. They include: Burke Rehabilitation Hospital; Children’s Hospital at Montefiore; Montefiore Hospital; Montefiore Mount Vernon Hospital ; Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital; Montefiore Wakefield Hospital; Nyack Hospital; St Luke’s Cornwall Hospital; Jack D. Weiler Hospital (Einstein); and White Plains Hospital.