Visiting Nurse Service of New York has acquired White Plains Hospital Center”™s certified home health agency in a $5.1 million transaction.
Eloise Goldberg, vice president for acute care in the Westchester, Bronx and Nassau regions at Visiting Nurse Service of New York, said “all clinical staff (at WPHC) were offered positions, but not all clinical staff accepted.”
She estimated about two nurses and two therapists did not join.
Teresa Mooney, registered nurse and administrator at White Plains Hospital Center for more than 25 years, said there were about 130 to 140 staffers within the WPHC home health division.
“The negotiation itself with White Plains Hospital Center did not take very long,” Goldberg said. “We reached a negotiation with the hospital fairly quickly and we needed to wait for approvals. In the spring, the state notified us they had accepted our purchase of home care and could submit our closure plan. ”¦ We could have closed a little earlier in the summer but with staff vacations, our purchase date ended up being Sept. 2.”
At press time, VNSNY was awaiting final approval by the federal government for official establishment of the branch office in Rye Brook.
The White Plains Hospital Center home health office at the Rye Brook Plaza is 7,480 square feet, according to Kevin McCarthy, senior associate at global commercial real estate brokerage C.B. Richard Ellis.
He said currently, only about 3 percent of the building is unoccupied, but that about 1,000 to 1,500 square feet could be accessed by VNSNY for expansion space if needed.
The building stands at about 80,000 square feet.
In terms of upgrades at the office, Goldberg said the entire office was made wireless and that a flatscreen TV was added to the conference room; next year she expects beautification of the space.
The home health care agency will continue to introduce technological resources to its nursing staff.
“We”™re experimenting with Manhattan teams, allowing physicians to communicate with the nurse via an email system,” Goldberg said. “It”™s a pilot system and depending on how successful it is, we can roll it out in other locations. We have a very elaborate information systems department.”
All White Plains Hospital Center home health nurses joining VNSNY will be given a pen tablet with customized software for recording and managing patient information.
“I”™ve been with the agency (VNSNY) since 1976 when we were not so technically advanced and I”™ve lived through all of the technological changes and I”™m excited by it,” said Patricia Kilroy, a registered nurse. “As medical offices move toward electronic records, we”™re speaking the same language now.”
Geoff Thompson, spokesman for White Plains Hospital Center, said the hospital “is happy with the transaction and had been discussing it for quite some time.”
