After a four-month evaluation, Auburn Community Hospital in Cayuga County and Rochester General Health System have decided not to pursue an affiliation, officials of the health care organizations said Friday.
Auburn Community Hospital has reopened its search for an affiliation. Hospital officials said an affiliation will enable them to provide greater access to local care, strengthen physician recruitment and retention, improve facilities support and continue best practice sharing.
“The due diligence process helped us to better understand the community’s concern about potentially losing relationships with the health care providers they already know,” Auburn Community president and CEO Scott Berlucchi said. “The things we’ve learned over the past four months will help us focus on developing the right partnership for our patients and our community.”
Auburn Hospital plans to pursue a partnership with another health care system.
“If a partnership doesn’t work for the community, it won’t work for the hospital or the health system,” said Mark Clement, president and CEO of RGHS. “This is the reason we perform a comprehensive due diligence period, and never promise an outcome before that exercise is complete. Auburn Community Hospital is a very important community asset, and we wish the team well as they continue through this process.”
Auburn Community Hospital employees and physicians will continue to play a role in the ongoing discussions.
Alliances previously struck between RGHS and area community hospitals include partnerships with United Memorial Medical Center in Batavia and Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca. RGHS merged with two Wayne County hospitals to form Newark-Wayne Community Hospital more than a decade ago.
(c) 2012 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or email service@rbj.net.
eMail
View All Comments
Print
Reprints
