Scriven Foundation awards Bassett $82 million for patient-care improvements, staff-retention initiatives

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Bassett Medical Center announced that it will use an $82 million grant from the Scriven Foundation to make “rapid improvements resulting in greater patient care access.”

The Cooperstown–based health system also says it will begin “significant” recruitment and retention initiatives for staffing.

Founded in 1937, the New York City–based Scriven Foundation focuses its efforts on supporting nonprofit organizations in the arts, education, environment, health care, and human services that serve the citizens of Otsego County.

“This innovative grant will fund new programs to address the challenges rural health-care operations encounter every day while ensuring continued financial stability,” Doug Hastings, chair of the Bassett Healthcare Network board of directors, said in a release.

Some of the programs the Scriven Foundation’s “restricted” grant will make possible include enhanced new investments in more competitive salaries, benefits, and retirement for practitioners; improving access to childcare for employees; and increasing affordable housing options for employees.

The programs also include developing new mentorship opportunities with local nursing schools, decreasing administrative demands on practitioners by acquiring more support staff and implementing technologically driven solutions, and increasing education and training programs for clinical staff, per Bassett.

“Bassett provides care and services to patients across eight counties and 5,600 square miles in central New York state,” Jane Forbes Clark, chair of the Bassett Medical Center board of directors and president of the Scriven Foundation, said. “The organization’s tremendous footprint connects many thousands of patients with care who otherwise would not have access. I am proud of the critically important work Bassett has accomplished over more than 100 years — and continues to build upon — in rural medicine. On behalf of the Scriven Foundation, we are pleased to offer this impactful investment to bolster resources, benefits, and recruitment efforts for Bassett’s clinical workforce.”

Dr. Tommy Ibrahim, president & CEO of Bassett Healthcare Network, said the grant is generous, transformative, and will help the health system meet its current challenges.

“Like hospitals and health systems across the country, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created many challenges in retention and recruitment, especially among physicians, advanced practice clinicians, and nurses, which is negatively and unacceptably impacting patient access to care,” he said.