Over the past two months, St. Elizabeth Medical Center (SEMC) and Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare (FSLH) have moved several steps closer to their proposed affiliation agreement. On Thursday, November 21, 2013, FSLH and SEMC met with the New York State Project Review Committee of the Public Health and Health Planning Council (PHHPC). The committee endorsed their affiliation proposal, which was approved by the PHHPC on Thursday, December 12, 2013. On Wednesday, December 11, 2013 the hospitals also reached an agreement with the New York State Attorney General’s office to move forward. The organizations caution that while this is very positive news, there is one more step to complete.
“We are pleased with the support we have received from the New York State Department of Health and the Attorney General’s office,” commented Scott H. Perra, FACHE, President/CEO of FSLH. “Our last step is next week when we file our notification with the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. The DOJ reviews affiliations from an antitrust perspective. If they have no objections, we will be able to move forward with the affiliation as early as the spring of 2014.”
“This is a positive move for our community,” stated Richard Ketcham, FACHE, President/CEO of SEMC. “While there is still much work to do going forward, the affiliation provides a strong foundation to better respond to the healthcare needs of our community.”
Mohawk Valley Health System is the name of the proposed “parent organization” that will govern the two organizations. A new Board of Directors, comprised of 18 members with equal members from the FSLH Board and the SEMC Board, will oversee the parent organization and the two hospitals.
Consolidation and joint partnerships are not new for the organizations. Faxton Hospital and St. Luke’s-Memorial consolidated their services in 2000. SEMC and FSLH jointly sponsor the Mohawk Valley Heart Institute and have a collaborative agreement for the Central New York Diabetes Education Program. The two organizations employ nearly 4,500 employees and have combined operating budgets of more than $500 million.