HEALTH-CARE INDUSTRY POST-PANDEMIC PRIORITIES

Wendy Darwell, the new CEO of the Suburban Hospital Alliance of New York (SHANY) state, gave local business owners and leaders an overview of the changes hospitals faced during the pandemic, as well as goals to achieve moving forward.  Darwell has been working closely with Westchester Medical Center/ Good Samaritan Hospital”™s CEO Dr. Mary Leahy and Montefiore /Nyack Hospital”™s CEO Dr. Mark Geller since her promotion at SHANY. Darwell says local hospitals have been working overtime to keep pace with the rising cost of health care and outlined the industry”™s four major challenges: finances, aging communities, workforce shortages and a competitive marketplace. Hospitals are also facing competition from wages being paid by big box retailers, as well as from Google, Amazon and telehealth companies that are hiring across the country and also from those who transitioned from in-person workplace to remote workspace. Area hospitals are also indispensable to the health and economic welfare of their respective communities: “Hudson Valley hospitals employ 53,000 people, contribute $1.2 billion in community benefits and generate $13 billion in economic activity,” said Darwell while speaking to the Rockland Business Association at Paramount Country Club on March 16.  

One lesson learned from the crisis was the need to rethink how to grow the next generation of health-care workers, Darwell told the audience. “We must be more creative”¦perhaps we”™ve gone too far with our education requirements; for example, a four-year degree is needed to be a lab technician”¦in states surrounding us, only a two-year degree is required. Not everyone can afford to go to school for four years”¦we need more flexibility in the curriculum and rethink educational requirements.”