Schuyler Hospital unites with Cayuga Medical

MONTOUR FALLS--Schuyler Hospital and Cayuga Medical Center announced the establishment of the Cayuga Health System Wednesday, Oct. 29 in a dual press conference held in Montour Falls and Ithaca. This regional organization unites the hospitals in a health-care network to better provide local and regional health care services. The idea behind the cooperation is to make sure there is quality care for both communities, while also providing needed services using specialists that were not available before.

"In working together over the past three years, we have learned that we can do more together than we can on our own for both hospitals and for the residents in our combined service area," said Andrew Manzer, president and CEO of Schuyler Hospital. "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."
Incorporated as a New York State not-for-profit 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.
Executive Director of Schuyler Health Services Michelle Benjamin said Manzer will remain the president and CEO of Schuyler Hospital and report to the board, which will then report to the Cayuga Health System board.
"As the president/CEO of Schuyler Hospital, Andy Manzer still reports to the Schuyler hospital board," Benjamin said. "Both the Schuyler and Cayuga Medical Center boards then report up to the system board."
"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," said Cayuga Medical Center president and CEO John Rudd. "Both of our hospitals are stronger for it, and the patients we serve will benefit now and in the years to come."
The joint effort comes after years of each hospital already working together on certain programs in order to provide needed services for community members.
"Our positive experience in working together is already well established," said Kyle Tuttle, chairman of the Schuyler Hospital board of directors. "This affiliation enabled Schuyler Hospital to obtain a HEAL (Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law) grant of $6.5 million from the New York State Department of Health. These critical funds were used for a major renovation, including new operating rooms at Schuyler Hospital to support our growing outpatient surgery program in orthopedics and general surgery."
"By serving a larger regional population, we are in the strongest possible position to meet future challenges," said Larry Baum, chairman of the Cayuga Medical Center board of directors. "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."