Thirteen months after formally agreeing to merge, Health Quest Systems and Western Connecticut Health Network (WCHN) have received the required federal and state (New York and Connecticut) regulatory approvals to form a new nonprofit health system, Nuvance Health.
Pronounced “NEW-vance” ”“ a portmanteau of “new” and “advance” ”“ the new system will, as reported last March, serve 1.5 million residents across New York”™s Hudson Valley and western Connecticut, and be comprised of seven hospitals: Health Quest’s Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck; Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel; Sharon Hospital in Sharon, Connecticut; and Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, and WCHN’s hospitals in New Milford, Danbury and Norwalk.
Other affiliates of each system include Health Quest Medical Practice, The Thompson House, Health Quest Urgent Care, Hudson Valley Cardiovascular Practice P.C, also known as The Heart Center, Western Connecticut Medical Group and Western Connecticut Home Care.
All told, Nuvance will consist of more than 2,600 physicians and 12,000 employees. Projected annual revenues of the system are $2.4 billion.
WCHN President and CEO John Murphy will serve as Nuvance”™s CEO, while Health Quest President and CEO Robert Friedberg will be its president. The new organization”™s board of directors includes what a release described as a “diverse and equitable volunteer community representation,” with eight members nominated by Health Quest and eight by WCHN.
“Our patients and communities are the heart of efforts to form the new health system,” Murphy said. “We are steadfastly focused on how we can improve the health and well-being of the people we passionately serve. Through the new integrated health system, we will be able to attract top clinical talent in order to provide even more advanced, compassionate and collaborative care.”
The executives said that the benefits of combining and creating the new health system include greater breadth of services, such as more specialty physicians and population health programs. Additional expected benefits include the use of data analytics to enhance quality and safety and improve health outcomes, as well as growing medical education and learning to shape the future of medicine that best serves each community”™s needs.
“By coming together, we will bring our communities more health care options through new programs and services, especially to help prevent disease and effectively manage chronic conditions,” Friedberg said. “Our communities will also benefit from having greater access to specialists and the latest treatments, conveniently within one health system and close to home.”
The name Nuvance Health will replace the legacy health network names Health Quest and WCHN. The organization will reveal a new logo and other brand marks in the coming weeks and months.
Nuvance Health will remain a nonprofit organization, “committed to community health and wellness and will continue to provide care to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay,” according to the release.
A video of Murphy and Friedberg discussing Nuvance can be found here.
