Two Catholic health care providers and a secular provider — all in eastern New York's Capital Region — have merged to form a new organization called St. Peter's Health Partners.
Joining together are St. Peter's Health Care Services of Albany and its 442-bed St. Peter's Hospital; Seton Health of Troy and its 196-bed St. Mary's Hospital; and Northeast Health of Troy and its 238-bed Samaritan Hospital of Troy and its 165-bed Albany Memorial. St. Peter's is a Catholic organization that is sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy and owned by Catholic Health East of Newtown Square, Pa. Seton is a Catholic provider sponsored by the Daughters of Charity and owned by Ascension Health of St. Louis. Northeast is secular.
Under the merger finalized Oct. 1, the three organizations and their affiliates become part of the new St. Peter's Health Partners, which is part of CHE. The regional parent company abides by the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Servicesbut is not considered Catholic. St. Peter's and St. Mary's hospitals remain Catholic, however, and retain their premerger sponsorship relationships. A single, 41-member board with representation from the three merger partners now oversees the regional parent company. Two of those board members are ex officio.
The three partner organizations are reconfiguring their services. St. Peter's is focusing on specialty care, including cancer care and women's services. St. Mary's is concentrating on behavioral health, ambulatory care and emergency care. Samaritan is becoming Troy's inpatient medical/surgical provider, with St. Mary's inpatient beds moving to Samaritan. Albany Memorial remains a community hospital. All of the partners' long-term care, home care, retirement housing and hospice care operations now are organized under the Eddy, Northeast's continuing care provider.
Maternity services have ceased at Samaritan. A separately licensed facility called Burdett Care Center has opened on the Samaritan campus to provide women's reproductive health care services.
Steven Boyle, chief executive of St. Peter's Health Partners, said the merger allows the partner organizations to better serve the community by working together. He said that in this era of health care reform, it makes sense for providers to find ways to achieve scale and to become stronger organizations. He said the merger helps to achieve that.
Boyle added that the setup of the new organization ensures the continuation of Catholic health care in the Capital Region.
Senior leadership team of St. Peter's Health Partners
Steven Boyle, chief executive of the regional system and interim executive vice president of acute care – Albany (formerly, president and chief executive of St. Peter's Health Care Services)
Dr. James Reed, president of the regional system (formerly president and chief executive of Northeast Health)
James Gavin, executive vice president, chief financial officer/treasurer
Thomas Schuhle, executive vice president, business development/analytics
Kathleen Brodbeck, executive vice president, chief nursing officer
Jo-Ann Costantino, executive vice president, continuing care. She will continue as chief executive of the Eddy
Virginia Golden, executive vice president, strategic planning and service line development
Norman Dascher Jr., executive vice president, acute care – Troy. He will also hold the position of chief executive, Samaritan and St. Mary's hospitals and administrator at Albany Memorial Hospital on an interim bases (formerly chief executive, patient care division and executive vice president, Northeast Health)
Judy Gray, vice president, human resources, workforce and culture development
Barbara McCandless, vice president, human resources, organization development
Dr. John Collins, chief medical officer, continuing care
Dr. Robert Cella, chief medical officer, acute care – Albany
Dr. Daniel Silverman, chief medical officer, acute care – Troy
Robert Swidler, vice president, legal services
Charles Gianfagnia, vice president, facilities planning and management
Jonathan Goldberg, vice president, information services and chief information officer