Cayuga Medical Center, Schuyler Hospital form Cayuga Health System

ITHACA, N.Y. — Cayuga Medical Center of Ithaca and Schuyler Hospital of Montour Falls (Schuyler County) have announced the establishment of the Cayuga Health System, a new regional health-care network.

The new organization unites the hospitals in a network that delivers health-care services while maintaining the identity and governance of each hospital, according to a joint news release from the hospitals.

The two facilities are also using their original names with a new logo that identifies each hospital as a member of the Cayuga Health System.

Incorporated as a New York nonprofit corporation, Cayuga Health System is designed to accommodate the possible addition of other hospital and health-care related entities as deemed “appropriate and beneficial” to support regional health care, according to the release.

“Cayuga Health System is the culmination of three years of collaboration and innovation on the part of our leadership teams, boards of directors, and medical staffs. Both of our hospitals are stronger for it, and the patients we serve will benefit now and in the years to come,” John Rudd, president and CEO of Cayuga Medical Center, said in the news release.

In working together over the past three years, the hospitals have learned that they “can do more together” than on their own for both facilities and the residents in their combined service area, Andrew Manzer, president and CEO of Schuyler Hospital, said in the release.

“Our goal is to keep health-care services local and to collaborate in a long-term vision that will result in the delivery of a high level of care in both our communities,” said Manzer.

By serving a larger regional population, the hospitals are in the “strongest possible position” to meet future challenges, Larry Baum, chairman of the Cayuga Medical Center board of directors, added.

“We are able to provide special services, such as percutaneous coronary intervention for heart-attack patients and subspecialty orthopedics, because we have a sufficient number of patients to support the practices of these specialists. In providing care to a larger population base, as we are doing through the Cayuga Health System, we can offer a higher level of service to all of the communities we serve,” said Baum.

Cayuga Medical Center is a 204-bed, acute-care regional medical center with a medical staff of 250.

Schuyler Hospital is a 25-bed critical-access hospital with a medical staff of 30 and a 120-bed skilled-nursing facility in Montour Falls.

Three affiliated primary-care centers provide walk-in care in Montour Falls, in Ovid (Seneca County), and in Dundee (Yates County), according to the release.         

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com