Officials at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow and the North Shore-LIJ Health System announced Monday they have reached an agreement that will make Phelps the 18th hospital in the North Shore-LIJ metropolitan system and expand North Shore”™s operations from New York City and Long Island into Westchester County.
The deal is expected to be approved this fall by the state Health Department.
Phelps directors announced last May that the 238-bed, 1,700-employee hospital was exploring joining North Shore-LIJ, the state”™s largest private employer and largest integrated health care provider. The formal agreement, signed by North Shore-LIJ President and CEO Michael Dowling and Richard Sinni, Phelps board chairman, was previously approved by the boards of both hospitals.
With the North Shore-LIJ agreement imminent, Phelps Memorial Hospital Center President and CEO Keith F. Safian last month announced he will resign from his position as of Nov. 30 after 25 years.
“As exciting as it is for North Shore-LIJ to move beyond its traditional service area of Long Island and the city of New York, the true beneficiaries of this new relationship will be the thousands of individuals and families in Westchester County who entrust their care to Phelps Memorial Hospital,” North Shore-LIJ”™s Dowling said in a statement. “We are committed to strengthening and expanding the clinical services that Phelps provides, ensuring that the hospital will continue to fulfill its mission as a full-service community hospital.”
As part of the agreement, North Shore-LIJ said it will invest in infrastructure improvements and clinical program expansion at Phelps.
“We are excited to be joining an organization that shares our vision for care in the future and has the resources to help us achieve our goals,” Sinni said on behalf of the Sleepy Hollow hospital. “The partnership will ensure that Phelps will be able to continue to provide quality care to our community, now and in the future.”
See an interactive map of Westchester’s community hospitals and their partnerships with larger metropolitan health systems here.
