Crouse Health affiliates with Northwell, state’s largest health-care provider

SYRACUSE — Crouse Health on May 2 said it signed a clinical-affiliation agreement with an organization that describes itself as New York state’s largest health-care provider and private employer.

Northwell Health, headquartered in New Hyde Park in Nassau County, includes 21 hospitals, more than 550 outpatient practices, and 61,000 employees, according to its website.

Northwell is also the nation’s 14th largest health system.

In its news release, Crouse Health noted that its relationship with Northwell Health is “not a merger or acquisition.”

Crouse Health refers to it as a clinical-affiliation arrangement that allows both health systems to “jointly develop a relationship to share best practices to enhance health-care services” for Central New York patients.

Under the affiliation, Crouse Health will continue to operate as an “independent, separately licensed,” community-based hospital and maintain its existing board governance structure, per the release.

Additionally, each system is “responsible” for its own assets, operations, liabilities, and budget.

The agreement means “no changes” for doctors, nurses, or staff, Crouse Health said.

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“Over the past two years as we have worked to keep Crouse strong and strategically positioned for the dynamic environment we are in, we have been engaged in numerous discussions with multiple organizations, both locally and regionally,” Kimberly Boynton, president and CEO of Crouse Health, said in the release.

“Among the key criteria our board, physician leadership, and senior-leadership team used to evaluate potential partners was a strong alignment and compatibility with the Crouse culture, as well as our mission, which is to provide the best in patient care and promote community health,” Boynton added. “This was a thoughtful, focused process, and we were committed to selecting a partner to align with that shared not only our mission, but our core values. We have that in Northwell.”

Crouse Health has 3,300 employees between two hospitals, a combined medical staff of more than 900 physicians, and “multiple” primary-care sites.

Crouse Health already has an affiliation, established in 2013, with Community Memorial Hospital in Hamilton.

Crouse expects the relationship “to be enhanced” under its affiliation with Northwell agreement, according to Boynton.

“As we look at the care-delivery system in our marketplace, Community Memorial remains a key strategic partner in care for the Madison County region,” she said.

Northwell Health is “thrilled” with the opportunity to partner with Crouse Health, Michael Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health, said in the release.

“Working together, our goal is to provide Crouse with the expertise to prosper in this incredibly complex health care environment, and collaborate with the hospital to help improve the health of Central New York residents, which is at the heart of our mission in the New York metropolitan area,” said Dowling. “For Northwell, this collaboration creates a key strategic alliance in a major upstate hub with a high-quality, financially stable, mission-focused provider that has relationships with numerous other hospitals in the region.”