(Hauppauge, NY-June 5, 2013) In a move to improve health care services and save taxpayer dollars, the Suffolk County Legislature approved the consolidation of the Southampton and East Hampton Health Clinics into one Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Southampton. This innovative public/private partnership between Suffolk County, Southampton Hospital, Hudson River Health Care and Stony Brook University Medical Center will enhance the health and welfare of underserved individuals and their families in Southampton, East Hampton and other neighboring communities. Thirteen Legislators approved the consolidation, while five abstained.
“This consolidation will provide improved health care services to East End residents, including expanded hours of service and new dental and behavioral health services,” said County Executive Bellone. “This initiative is a win-win, offering improved health care service at a lower cost to tax payers--that represents government working at its best.”
“This new clinic will provide substantially enhanced services to patients at a lower cost to Suffolk County taxpayers,” said County Legislator Jay Schneiderman who represents the South Fork and supports the proposal.
This initiative will save the County $3.8 million over the next five years. The consolidated health care facility will be located on the Southampton Hospital campus, an ideal location as patients can easily access ancillary and specialty services at the hospital. The newly designed facility is located on a public transportation route and transportation policies are currently being developed to ensure that East Hampton patients can easily access the new location. This consolidation also provides the unique opportunity of a residency training site for primary care physicians through Stony Brook University Medical Center and Southampton Hospital. Not only will patients have access to enhanced services, the primary care training program will assist in developing new physicians in eastern Suffolk County.
“We are very excited about this new partnership and the unique opportunity it creates to expand primary care services, improve access and provide a new site to train the future generation of doctors for our South Fork communities, said Robert S. Chaloner, President and CEO, Southampton Hospital. “With rapidly changing healthcare, partnerships such as this are exactly what will be needed to improve care for all the people we serve.”
The new clinic will be financed through a $2.2 million state health care grant through the HEAL program. The health clinic will be re-designed on property owned by Southampton Hospital. Southampton Hospital has committed $700,000 of HEAL NY Phase 11 grant funding it has secured for the renovations to the facility required to meet FQHC.
In addition to the improved services offered by the consolidation, the relationships that Southampton Hospital has with area doctors provides yet another opportunity where patients in Montauk and East Hampton will have the ability to visit not only the new clinic but the offices of doctors who are affiliated with the hospital.
In May of 2012, the Elsie Owens Health Center at Coram was converted to a Federally Qualified Health Care Clinic under the auspice of Hudson River Health Care. This move provided similar benefits to the patients of the health clinic and provided savings to the Suffolk County taxpayer in the amount of $1.7 million. In addition, the Elsie Owens Health Center under HRH management has implemented the use of electronic health records, renovated the facility to add state of the art dental services, added bilingual staff and introduced key outcome measures and protocols to achieve National Committee for Quality Assurance Primary Care Medical Home Initiative.
About Hudson River Health Care (HRH)
HRH is a not-for profit organization that directly operates nineteen Health Centers in neighborhoods around the Hudson Valley and Long Island. HRH’s mission is to increase access to comprehensive primary and preventative health care and to improve the health status of our communities, especially for the underserved and vulnerable. HRH is accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. HRH is also the recipient of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society National Davis Award for Quality in Community Health in recognition for HRH’s use of health information technology to improve healthcare delivery and increase clinical outcomes for their patients.