The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, which acquired two community hospitals in Westchester County last year, is being renamed Northwell Health as the 21-hospital network prepares to launch a rebranding and marketing campaign in 2016 to distinguish it in a crowded metropolitan market.
The state”™s largest private employer, it has been known as North Shore-LIJ Health System since the 1997 merger of the North Shore Health System and Long Island Jewish Medical Center. But officials at North Shore-LIJ headquarters in Great Neck said the name has confused consumers, the news media, medical professionals and even the health system”™s own employees and is not well recognized among consumers beyond Long Island.
A spokesperson said the health system began working earlier this year with branding consultants Monigle and Interbrand to develop a new company name and brand platform. The marketing communications firm J. Walter Thompson was also brought in to develop a broad communications program.
The resulting name change was unanimously approved by the North Shore-LIJ board of trustees.
Board chairman Mark L. Claster said trustees “recognized the need for a more consumer-friendly name that did not confine us geographically and reflects our emergence as a regional health care provider with a coverage area that extends beyond Long Island.”
“Being highly visible and clearly understood within and beyond the New York metropolitan area requires strong brand recognition,” Michael J. Dowling, North Shore-LIJ president and CEO, said. “The Northwell Health name is a reflection of our past and a beacon of our future. It’s unique, simple and approachable, and better defines who we are and where we are going.”
As a first step, the health system will begin introducing the new brand to its more than 61,000 employees, 10,000 affiliated physicians and other internal audiences, including more than 13,000 nurses, according to a North Shore-LIJ spokesperson.
The health system”™s community hospitals will retain their existing names. They include Phelps Memorial Hospital in Sleepy Hollow and Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, both of which joined the North Shore-LIJ Health System last year.
It is the nation”™s 14th largest health care system, with annual revenues of nearly $8 billion. The nonprofit institution launched its own health insurance business, CareConnect Insurance Co. Inc., in 2013.
