Sharon Hospital to join Health Quest
Sharon Hospital’s patients will have access to expanded services when it returns to nonprofit status by joining Health Quest, a family of nonprofit hospitals and healthcare professionals based in the mid-Hudson Valley of New York.
“This offers tremendous benefits to our patients,” said Peter Cordeau, CEO of Sharon Hospital. “They will now have seamless access to a full spectrum of services — from expert oncology and cardiology care to innovative neurology services and trained trauma surgeons. This means more options and reasons for patients to come to and stay connected with Sharon. It also means growth opportunities for our organization. Our future looks bright.”
Sharon Hospital is a 78-bed facility in Sharon, Conn., that transitioned to for-profit status in 2002. Sharon provides emergency, orthopedics, cardiac, and geriatric behavioral medicine, as well as obstetrics and general surgery services.
Sharon Hospital is part of Essent Healthcare of Connecticut (an affiliate of RCCH HealthCare Partners). Pending completion of the customary regulatory review, the transaction is expected to be finalized in mid-2017.
The Foundation for Community Health, based in Sharon, played an integral role in bringing the two organizations together. In collaboration with Sharon Hospital and Health Quest, the foundation will work to engage the community in the discussion of services and available resources to support future growth opportunities. The foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to maintaining and improving the physical and mental health of residents in the greater Harlem Valley of New York and the northern Litchfield Hills of Connecticut.
“Sharon Hospital is a critical component of our local healthcare system and its future,” said Nancy Heaton, CEO of the Foundation for Community Health. “In getting to know Health Quest, the board and staff of the foundation have been continually impressed with their commitment to providing quality care and community-based services. We are very excited and optimistic about the future of the hospital under Health Quest’s leadership and look forward to introducing them to our community and to creating opportunities to work together on identifying and addressing the critical health needs of our community.”
Health Quest includes Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck, Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel and Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie. Those hospitals are complemented by Health Quest Medical Practice, a physician group of more than 265 providers across the region, covering Dutchess, Ulster and Putnam counties.
“We are thrilled at the chance to enhance our excellent services and physicians in eastern Dutchess County and extend them to our neighbors in northwestern Connecticut,” said Greg Rakow, chairman of the Health Quest Board of Trustees. “We are grateful for the partnership and support from the Foundation for Community Health, whose hard work and guidance helped make this a reality.”
“Sharon Hospital shares a strong cultural fit and strategic vision with our system,” Health Quest President Robert Friedberg said. “Eastern Dutchess and western Connecticut residents will see improved quality through better coordination of care and improved access to the specialists within our excellent medical staff and an integrated electronic medical record system.”
Sharon Hospital is on the eastern edge of the Health Quest service area. Vassar Brothers is the closest medical center with advanced treatment options and specialists.
“We live in a rapidly changing healthcare environment and new regionally focused alignments like this are becoming imperative to the delivery of care in local communities,” said Mike Browder, RCCH HealthCare Partners executive vice president and chief financial officer. “Over the last several months, the leaders of all three involved parties determined the best way to ensure a strong future for the delivery of healthcare in Sharon and the surrounding region would be for Sharon Hospital to align with another regionally focused health system.”
Health Quest has a preliminary agreement with Essent Healthcare of Connecticut and will submit a certificate of need to the State of Connecticut for change in ownership. In the interim, Health Quest will work closely with the Foundation for Community Health and Essent to make the transition seamless.
