On March 4, Bon Secours Community Hospital, a Member of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network, the city of Port Jervis and its surrounding communities received news of a $24.5 million grant from New York State for the development of a vital, comprehensive healthcare hub on the Bon Secours Community Hospital campus that will be available to all and committed to "creating health" for the residents of the tri-state area. Recently, Michael Israel, President and CEO of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) and Mary Leahy, MD, CEO of Bon Secours Charity Health System joined with members of the workforce at Bon Secours Community Hospital to talk about the plans for the future.
Q. What is WMCHealth?
A. The Westchester Medical Center Network is comprised of 10 hospitals on seven campuses across eight counties in the Hudson Valley. The development of the network is part of a broad, strategic vision to ensure the people of the Hudson Valley region receive the highest quality care as close to home as possible. WMCHealth partners represent almost every type of care, at every level, from preventive, to primary, inpatient and advanced care, to long- and short-term nursing services. Bon Secours Charity Health System and Bon Secours Community Hospital play an integral role in realizing that strategic vision for the Hudson Valley communities we serve.
Q. How will the new relationship with WMCHealth benefit Bon Secours Community Hospital, Port Jervis and its surrounding communities?
A. Bon Secours Charity Health System joined WMCHealth May 2015. This new relationship has already brought financial stability to Bon Secours Charity Health System, which, in turn, will enable us to maintain and grow services that better meet the broader healthcare needs of our Hudson Valley community. As an example, network partners are already benefiting from the eHealth program WMCHealth launched last year, which is bringing the expertise of specialists located on WMCHealth's Valhalla campus to Hudson Valley communities through telehealth technology. Plans are already underway to permanently install telehealth equipment at Bon Secours Community Hospital as WMCHealth renovates the facility. In the meantime, mobile telehealth carts should be in Bon Secours Community Hospital soon, so care teams there can have immediate access to specialists at WMCHealth's flagship facility: Westchester Medical Center.
Q. What have you been working on?
A. Bon Secours Community Hospital, Bon Secours Charity Health System and WMCHealth have been collaborating on a vision for a vital healthcare campus in Port Jervis. Providing inpatient, outpatient and community care and services, this greater vision is an innovative way of "creating health" and expanding services and programs. Our care model is one that focuses on gaining better access to the right type and level of care for more people, so that we can improve the general health and well-being of the community we serve.
Bon Secours Community Hospital began by listening to you and to the community through many focus groups and community forums. Along the way, we have added several new programs such as our successful healthy walking, yoga, BMI and blood pressure monitoring programs. And we have already recruited new physicians to the area in primary care, pulmonary and vascular services.
In early March we received notice of a $24.5 million Capital Needs grant for our "medical village" project (We have not yet received the funding as it will be paid out over time as we complete various construction projects.) As part of the next phase of planning for the project, we will get final feedback and input, from both internal and external stakeholders, to see how we can further strengthen our plans and, where opportunities exist, enhance and even grow programs that will align with other programs across WMCHealth, for both outpatient and inpatient services.
Q. What is a medical village?
A. By definition, a medical village is a convenient, integrated primary care and outpatient destination for "one-stop" medical services, providing easy and open access to medical care and related services. In our case it is part of our campus vision as the community's healthcare focal point. This is where Bon Secours Community Hospital, WMCHealth and community partners will offer primary care, behavioral health and other support services such as education, transportation services, and preventative health programs, some of which will reach even beyond our campus. The medical village will be at the heart of our community's need for health and services, and will be available to everyone. For Bon Secours Community Hospital, having high-quality and expanding inpatient care and services already available on one campus is an added benefit that many medical villages do not have.
Q. What is the process?
A. Now that we have received the notification about the $24.5 million grant, Bon Secours Community Hospital enters into a new phase of our planning. Based on the new relationship with WMCHealth and the network's partnership with global healthcare technology innovator Philips there are new opportunities for Bon Secours Community Hospital both within the medical village project, as well as for our entire campus. We will continue to work with our employees, physicians and community partners throughout this planning phase. This phase will ramp up quickly and in August we will submit a Certificate of Need to the state as part of the Capital Restructuring Financial Program (CRFP) Grant process for approval. Once it is approved, construction and renovation will begin, and will include a new observation unit, expanded and redesigned emergency department, improved outpatient testing services, as well as various campus locations for preventive, primary, behavioral health and other support services.
Q. Where will medical village services be located?
A. Part of the next planning phase will be a final campus-wide review of program and service locations, both of current inpatient and outpatient services, and new medical village programs and services to ensure that patient access, flow, security and parking are optimized.
Q. What about jobs?
A. Our goal is to increase employment opportunities. We expect to add jobs as part of the new programs and services that will be offered on the campus, as well as adding new physicians. We will also develop workforce opportunities in the health sciences and related fields to ensure employment opportunities are maximized for any members of the workforce affected by shifts in healthcare delivery. In fact, we already began adding up to 60 jobs across the Bon Secours Charity Health System in the Revenue Cycle Department, which will include nearly 30 positions in Port Jervis in a building we have purchased and are now renovating. In addition, our union relationships will remain the same.
Q. What about same-day surgery? ICUs?
A. All of these services will remain. We plan to add additional ambulatory and inpatient surgical services, and our ICUs will quickly benefit from WMCHealth's existing eHealth program that connects sub-specialists at Westchester Medical Center with the ICU teams at Bon Secours Community Hospital.
Q. What about St. Joseph's Place?
A. The long- and short-term nursing services at St. Joseph's Place will remain.
Q. What about mental health services?
A. One of the major reasons for acute care hospitalizations in the United States is the lack of access to quality mental health services. With better access to mental health services, the likelihood of people taking care of their general health increases. The people we need to provide care for are our friends and neighbors who need better support, which in our new care delivery model, will be mainly in outpatient settings.