Date: Fri 03-Jul-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SUZANN

Quick Words:

health-St-Vincent's

Full Text:

St Vincent's Affiliates With New York Presbyterian Hospital

BY SUZANNA NYBERG

BRIDGEPORT -- St Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport has announced plans to

affiliate with New York Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University's

College of Physicians and Surgeons.

The affiliation is not a merger and involves neither financial nor management

exchanges; the Daughters of Charity National Health System will continue to

own and operate St Vincent's.

Although final approvals are still pending, Richard D'Aquila, St Vincent's

executive vice president, expects the alliance to be in place by the fall.

"This agreement benefits Bridgeport and its surroundings," he said. "At a time

when hospitals are shrinking, we are reaffirming our commitment to this area."

St Vincent's will now have access to technology found only at these New York

institutions. The burn unit at Cornell Medical Center, considered the finest

in the northeast, will be available to treat the more seriously burned. While

every hospital in the country provides cancer care, the oncological programs

at Columbia's Comprehensive Cancer Institute will offer area residents the

latest chemotherapies, surgical techniques, and research protocols.

Research done at Columbia, considered one of the nation's premier biomedical

research institutions, will come directly to St Vincent's.

Citing St Vincent's history of innovation in areas such as angioplasty and

coronary care, St Vincent CEO William Riordan sees the agreement as bringing

better care to area residents. "We have the largest number of cardiac and

cancer patients in the state," he said. "Now we can move the technology and

the research faster."

The partnership will focus on strengthening local care; only those cases that

require a special level of biomedical expertise will travel to New York. For

example, bone replacements will continue to be done at St Vincent's, but more

complex orthopedic cases, often involving infections, will go to New York

Presbyterian Hospital. St Vincent's does neither heart transplants nor

implants of mechanical hearts, but Columbia does more of these procedures than

any facility in the country; patients will go to the Washington Heights

hospital for that procedure. A woman with a high-risk pregnancy will receive

as much care at St Vincent's and then be transferred to New York Presbyterian

if, for example, her newborn requires open heart surgery. New York

Presbyterian Hospital cares for more desperately ill infants than any other US

institution. Also, patients who need bone marrow work will receive treatment

at Columbia.

The journey to New York via helicopter or surface ambulance will take less

than an hour. "Patients will be treated as members of our family in a

seamless, embracing environment," said Dr Arthur Klein, president of New York

Presbyterian Healthcare Network.

Network Of Institutions

New York Presbyterian Hospital is a network of 30 institutions that works

collaboratively to provide both acute and long-term care to residents in the

tri-state area. The alliance, which does not require regulatory approval, will

also allow St Vincent's to monitor patients in a way not possible before.

Previously the medical center relied only upon itself to track patients and

assess data; if patients received specialized care at another institution,

there was no feedback or follow-up. Now St Vincent's will be part of a network

that can share practices and outcomes, and see how other institutions are

treating their patients.

St Vincent's looks to strengthen academically as well as clinically. As part

of its agreement with Columbia, medical students will train at St Vincent's

and recently graduated physicians will do their residencies at the medical

center. Dr John Lawrence, St Vincent's vice president for medical affairs,

feels that bringing third and fourth year medical students to St Vincent's

will help recruit the next generation of doctors. Also, St Vincent's medical

staff will join Columbia's faculty, and Columbia faculty will lecture at the

Bridgeport campus. Dr Gerard Thomson, senior associate dean of Columbia's

medical faculty, believes the agreement will enhance both institutions. "The

academic mission of Columbia will be enriched as our campus moves to

Bridgeport," he said.