Vassar, Ellenville sign critical access transfer agreement

Based on a mutual desire to enhance heath care delivery in the Hudson Valley, Vassar Brothers Medical Center and Ellenville Regional Hospital recently announced the formation of a “critical access transfer agreement.”
Ellenville Regional Hospital is a designated critical access hospital. It is a 25-bed facility in Ellenville and provides rural patients their entry into the health care system by providing primary hospital services.

A critical access hospital (CAH) is a designation made possible by the so-called “Medicare rural hospital flexibility program” created by the federal government in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. It is an alternative for small, rural hospitals and creates the potential for enhanced reimbursement from Medicare as well as the opportunity to better match the local community’s needs to the hospital’s capabilities.
In order for the hospital to meet CAH requirements, it must include
the services of at least one full-service, acute-care hospital combined with the more-rural facility.
Through this transfer agreement with Vassar Brothers Medical Center
in Poughkeepsie, Ellenville Regional patients will have access to the services currently available at VBMC.
Vassar Brothers and Ellenville hospitals, through this agreement, have addressed the required contractual arrangements for CAH designation, including procedures for patient transfer and referral, communication systems, emergency and non-emergency transportation, credentialing, and quality assurance.
“We are very excited to develop a collaborative arrangement with Vassar
Brothers Medical Center, a premier medical center in our region,” said
Steven L. Kelley, president and CEO of Ellenville Regional Hospital, in a prepared statement. “Through this partnership, a vastly more robust array of services becomes available to our community.”
Said Dr. Dan Aronzon, president and CEO of Vassar Brothers, “We are honored to be affiliating with Ellenville Regional Hospital as a sponsor hospital, and look forward to serving our expanded community with the same superior level of high quality care currently available to our region. Patients coming to Ellenville with life-threatening cardiac issues, for example, will quickly and safely be transferred to the region’s most recognized cardiac care program. This is just one of the many benefits of this important program.”
The partnership should be “win-win” for both organizations. Ellenville Regional Hospital has the opportunity to gain clinical and administrative support from Vassar Brothers, while Vassar Brothers can gain enhanced market presence and increased referrals through its new partnership.