Carthage Area Hospital’s non-clinical departments, administration relocate

WEST CARTHAGE, N.Y. — Carthage Area Hospital this week plans to move its executive and administration offices to another building in West Carthage as it works to “expand clinical space at the main campus” in Carthage.

They’ll be operating in the Franklin Place Professional Building at 40 Franklin St., located off State Route 26 in West Carthage, the hospital said in a news release issued Monday afternoon.

The Black River separates the villages of Carthage and West Carthage in Jefferson County. Carthage is located in the town of Wilna and West Carthage is part of the town of Champion.

Besides the administration offices, the organization has also moved its corporate compliance, human resources, and marketing and quality assurance departments, along with the medical-staff coordinator to the same building.

Those non-clinical departments moved “during the past two weeks,” according to the news release.

All departments will operate “less than two miles” from the main campus.

The hospital’s Patient Accounting and Fiscal departments were already located at 40 Franklin Place, Suite 1A.

All hospital staff telephone numbers and emails remain the same.

Besides expanding clinical space, Carthage Area Hospital completed the moves to help the organization’s move to a “medical-village model,” as part of the delivery-system reform incentive-payment program (DSRIP).

DSRIP is the “main mechanism by which New York State will implement the Medicaid redesign team (MRT) waiver amendment,” according to the website of the New York State Department of Health.

DSRIP’s purpose is to “fundamentally restructure” the health-care delivery system by reinvesting in the Medicaid program, with the primary goal of reducing “avoidable” hospital use 25 percent over five years, the website says.

“We approach every change with a patient-first mentality,” Rich Duvall, CEO of Carthage Area Hospital, said in the news release. “When we decided to consolidate our non-clinical teams under one roof, we asked ourselves: ‘How will this benefit our patients?’ The answer was simple. It’s an opportunity to maximize clinical space for providers to deliver first-rate care while also improving our existing patient facilities.”

Established in 1965, Carthage Area Hospital is a 25-bed hospital, serving about 83,000 residents in Jefferson, northern Lewis and southern St. Lawrence counties.

The hospital also operates a network of community-based clinics, including its Family Health Center, Pediatric Clinic and Women’s Way to Wellness and provides a range of specialty care, including general surgery, orthopedics, urology, physical therapy and behavioral health.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com