Allan Atzrott isn”™t one to give up a fight easily.
A Vietnam War veteran who has worked in the health care industry for 37 years, Atzrott is the president and CEO of St. Luke”™s Cornwall Hospital, whose office is on the campus in Newburgh, a city that has fallen on hard times. He has pledged to keep the hospital ”“ for many the sole refuge for 24/7 medical care ”“ open and available to all residents and to help turn Newburgh in a positive direction through a business partnership initiative.
Atzrott has been at the helm of St. Luke”™s-Cornwall Hospital (SLCH) system for more than a decade, merging Newburgh”™s St. Luke”™s and Cornwall Hospital, keeping on par with technological advances and structural upgrades ”“ with better outcomes for patients as the benchmark.
Since 2001, SLCH has spent more than $120 million renovating and updating both hospitals and upgrading its radiology satellite, Hudson Valley Imaging in New Windsor. With physical upgrades completed, next on SLCH”™s agenda is switching its medical record keeping, Meditech, over to electronic health records. It”™s an investment Atzrott said would pay off for patients and for doctors who will have information at their fingertips. The records system is expected to be implemented in 2012.
Efficiency of care, better than average outcomes and community commitment is what SLCH strives to meet and exceed the status quo, said Atzrott, acknowledging the regional hospitals”™ challenge in attracting patients to “think local” for health care.
“For the over-65 crowd, they insist on getting it in Manhattan,” Atzrott said. “That”™s why we entered into a partnership with Mount Sinai hospital in 2004. If a patient needs a procedure we cannot do here ”“ a complex special surgery or an organ transplant ”“ they can have it done at Mount Sinai and then have follow up visits at our Cornwall campus with their Mount Sinai physician. It brings specialty care to our community and greatly enhances our ability to serve our patients as well as any New York City hospital can ”“ without the additional travel time and expense for them.”
Because the medical profession continues to move toward specialty practices, SLCH is looking ahead at its own community”™s future needs. “For example, parents look to Maria Fareri (Children”™s) Hospital for treatment for serious pediatric illness. …as a result, we downsized our pediatric unit, retaining our 13-bed neonatal intensive care unit and adding a bone and joint center, which was needed. We must make the most use of our tertiary care space because most post-surgery care is done on an ambulatory basis. The days of the four-day hospital stay for a biopsy are over ”“ they are now done in four hours on an outpatient basis. Medical advances have made that possible.”
For the uninsured and underinsured, hospital emergency rooms have become a substitute for the primary care physician. SLCH has grown both its Newburgh and Cornwall emergency rooms, but Atzrott said the need to provide care for people who turn up on a regular basis is a significant reason for state and federal agencies to reconsider any cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
Atzrott would like to see some changes made to the looming mandates of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. “The intention was good, but too much was overlooked and too much emphasis placed on things we have no control over.
“We have no control over the patient who comes to the ER with one ailment and appears two weeks with another illness unrelated to the prior visit,” Atzrott said. Under the Affordable Care Act (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), hospitals will not be reimbursed for the uninsured if they show up more than once in a 30-day time period.
“If someone comes in with the flu and then returns in three weeks with pneumonia, should we be held responsible?” He would also like a standardized insurance system put in place. “We are currently dealing with nearly 300 different companies, and its takes 85 staff members dedicated just to dealing with insurance companies to get reimbursed. The most glaring deficiencies were simply overlooked in the (affordable car act).”
Atzrott, whose hospital is one of Newburgh”™s largest employers, has teamed up with 19 other businesses to form the Greater Newburgh Partnership, a group determined to see abandoned housing rebuilt and incentives created to lure commercial enterprise to the city.
One of the first tasks the partnership has taken on is lighting and security cameras for College Heights, the area surrounding the hospital.
“Lights, camera and action is our motto,” Atzrott said. “Give us the lights and cameras, we”™ll take action. That is a first step … with more to come.”
Atzrott said he has seen cities turn around and believes Newburgh can do the same.
“Camden, New Jersey, is just one example ”“ where the area surrounding the hospital has become a safe, affordable neighborhood and rippled throughout the community. We are working in the partnership to achieve that here. It isn”™t going to happen overnight ”“ but it is and will happen as long as we remain true to the mission.”
