As part of a state commitment of $2.6 billion in funding to support “safety net” hospitals in New York, WMCHealth and its Westchester Medical Center (WMC) in Valhalla will receive $100 million, it was announced Oct. 23 by Gov. Kathy Hochul. Hochul visited the WMCHealth campus to make the announcement.
The funding, part of the New York State Department of Health’s Safety Net Transformation Program, will help support the merging of the Bon Secours Charity Health System and Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley into the WMCHealth network.
In September, it was announced that WMCHealth is taking over full ownership and operation of three hospitals from Bon Secours Mercy Health: Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, and St. Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick.
Hochul along with other state officials and county leaders toured the WMC Valhalla facility where a new five-story patient care center in being built. Hospital staff gave a presentation on adult trauma and the group visited a CAT Scan facility where imaging studies of patients are done.
“Our goal is to make New York a place where people live longer, happier and healthier lives and that starts by investing in the hospital systems and health care heroes like those we met today at Westchester Medical Center,” Hochul said. “While Republicans in Washington slash funds for hospitals across the country, reduce access to lifesaving services and threaten to raise insurance premiums, here in New York we are making long-term investments in the critical care all New Yorkers depend on.”
Through the transformation plan, WMC will increase its service capacity to allow more patients to receive preventive and life-saving care close to home, unify its electronic medical record system, and improve access to behavioral health, maternal, pediatric, and ambulatory care services.
WMCHealth CEO and President Dr. David Lubarsky said, “This transformational support will allow us to accelerate our integration efforts through technology and process, from vital information systems upgrades to critical support for our community hospitals, as we continue to modernize and expand care across the region.”
Lubarsky emphasized that people who show up at a safety net hospital in need to care will receive it regardless of their ability to pay.
“It doesn’t matter what Washington, D.C. does,” Lubarsky said. “Because my colleagues here will not allow human suffering to take place if we have anything to say about it.”
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said, “Strategic investments that address the needs of hospitals and health organizations will enable health professionals to better care for more New Yorkers. By encouraging the Westchester Medical Center Health Network to partner with the Bon Secours Charity Health System and the Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley, the Health Care Safety Net Transformation Program will allow Westchester Medical Center to optimize its operations, make its care services more accessible, and enhance its residency program.”
Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins described Westchester Medical Center as a lifeline for many county residents.
The state’s Health Care Safety Net Transformation Program helps support partnerships between safety net hospitals and other health care organizations. A safety net hospital cannot turn away patients who are unable to pay. A higher percentage of the patients they treat are uninsured or receive health care through public health insurance programs than do patients at hospitals that are not in the safety net category. The state’s Transformation Program provides strategic capital and operating support and regulatory flexibility as needed to improve the resilience and sustainability of safety net hospitals and expand access to high quality care.
WMC is a safety net hospital serving one in three people in the Hudson Valley who are enrolled in Medicaid. It is the only Level 1 trauma center in the region. Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley operates both Health Alliance Hospital and Margaretville Memorial Hospital. Health Alliance is the only acute care hospital in Ulster County and Margaretville is a rural critical access hospital in the Catskill Mountain area.
