The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Reaching out
GOSHEN » Administrators of Sharon Hospital are hoping a new affiliation will allow New York residents to avail themselves of its services and help the once-again nonprofit organization.
The hospital announced plans to join the New York-based hospital group Health Quest network in September 2016. As part of the shift, it will become a nonprofit once again, CEO Pe-
ter Cordeau told the members of the Northwest Hills Council of Governments last week, and expand to provide further services for residents, both in Connecticut and New York.
The service area for Sharon Hospital overlaps with Vassar Brothers Medical Center and Northern Dutchess Hospital, both in the Health Quest network, Cordeau said.
Joining the network will allow patients to cross state lines to receive treatment under the Affordable Care Act, Cordeau said. Almost 50 percent of the hospital’s patients live in New York, he said.
“If they were going to strategically place any building, and build one themselves, it’d be right here where Sharon’s located, because we have the ability to influence the patient flow and decamp patients to Sharon Hospital,” said Cordeau. “It was, ‘how do we grow the Sharon Hospital market and provide more services for our patients?’”
The group is planning to expand services in Connecticut, Cordeau said, and persuade patients to choose Sharon Hospital as part of a re-branding effort.
As part of this initiative, Cordeau said, Health Quest plans to create graduate educational opportunities for doctors, with hopes that they will choose to stay after completing their residency, reaching 220 medical and surgical residents in the area by 2024.
Health Quest also plans to affiliate with a medical school by 2022, in conjunction with a local college, Cordeau said.
“That’s important to us to plan for our future,” said Cordeau. “Because who are going to be our medical providers in the future?”
Entering into this affiliation will also allow services at Sharon Hospital to expand, according to Cordeau, as physicians at the other hospitals in the network will travel to Sharon to provide treatment.
Expanded record-keeping will allow patient information to be shared throughout the network, allowing patients greater options as well, he said.
About 50 percent of Sharon residents are weekenders and live elsewhere part of the time, Cordeau noted.
The shift over to Health Quest becomes official Aug. 1, Cordeau said.
“I’m looking forward to great things for this hospital and the community,” said Cordeau. “And really, to have again a more significant impact into our area of the state.”
Winchester Town Manager Robert Geiger asked how the hospital planned to expand, given the declining population of the region. The hospital has not reached market saturation, Cordeau said — parttime residents, for example, could be enticed to seek medical treatment there.
“There is so much opportunity to just get the patient across the street, never mind worrying about growth,” said Cordeau.
The idea of attracting physicians to settle in the area is particularly exciting, Sharon First Selectman Brent Colley said.
“We’re opening up our towns to a lot of doctors who probably wouldn’t have seen our towns if not for this merger,” said Colley. “They’re going to look at our mill rates, and look at New York mill rates, and maybe they’ll want to come here and start families here. Plus, you’re bringing a lot of potential students here, which is a younger population. And then there alternative was not to have a hospital at all, and then what?”