North Shore-LIJ, HackensackUMC Announce Strategic Alliance

NEW YORK, March 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hackensack University Health Network and the North Shore-LIJ Health System today announced an agreement to establish a strategic alliance. The agreement enables North Shore-LIJ to establish its first formal relationship in New Jersey, while providing Hackensack University Health Network its first formal entre into New York City and Long Island.

"Both parties have recognized the potential benefits of establishing this strategic alliance because our separate networks principally serve different geographic communities within the greater New York City metropolitan area," said Robert C. Garrett, Hackensack University Health Network's president and chief executive officer. 

"While we serve different geographic coverage areas, North Shore-LIJ and Hackensack University Health Network have comparable cultures with core missions of providing high quality clinical care supported by strong academic medical education and research," said Michael J. Dowling, North Shore-LIJ's president and CEO. "Similar to North Shore-LIJ's strategic alliance with Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, this collaboration will permit both organizations to utilize their strengths and share best practices to enhance quality and access to care, operate more efficiently and achieve advances in medicine and education."

The partnership opens a new and exciting chapter in Hackensack University Health Network's 124-year history, further elevating its national reputation for clinical quality and innovative research. Through its growing regional network of affiliated and owned hospitals and aligned physicians, anchored by nationally-recognized 775-bed Hackensack University Medical Center and its approximately 8,000 employees and over 1,600 physicians, Hackensack University Health Network is the most prominent healthcare network in the northern New Jersey region. North Shore-LIJ is already the largest integrated healthcare provider in New York State with more than $6 billion in annual revenue, the ninth-largest employer in the City of New York and the largest on Long Island with a workforce of more than 43,000 employees and over 9,000 physicians. The new alliance will serve more than eight million residents, representing over 310,000 annual hospital admissions.

"The decision was also based on North Shore-LIJ's reputation as a highly respected organization that has formed successful partnerships with independent hospitals in the greater New York City and Long Island region," said Garrett. "We are confident that our patients and staff will benefit from this collaboration on furthering our respective nationally recognized quality initiatives, depth of clinical services, and cutting-edge medical education programs."

Mr. Dowling said North Shore-LIJ and Hackensack University Health Network will work together to identify ways of enhancing their respective clinical services, which have well-deserved national and regional reputations for excellence. Both organizations also have nationally prominent pediatric services offered through Hackensack's Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital and North Shore-LIJ's Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York.  "By collaborating on clinical, research and education initiatives, and sharing other resources and support that will enhance quality and reduce expenses, we're confident both organizations will benefit greatly from this alliance," he said. "Among Hackensack University Health Network's great attributes is its high-quality, physicians who are critical in attracting patients, expanding programs and continuing innovative research."

The new alliance will explore opportunities for joint programs and initiatives. The objectives of this Strategic Alliance will include, but are not limited to:

• Establishing cooperative programs to promote quality and patient safety;
• Improving care management programs in preparation for migration to new health reform-based care models, including medical home, accountable care organization structures and other risk- and cost-sharing models;
• Promoting and supporting co-operative programs associated with community health needs;
• Developing joint clinical research projects and programs to advance education and medical science;
• Establishing referral arrangements for specialty clinical care;
• Developing joint information technology programs, such as application hosting or data storage; and
• Jointly exploring the establishment or expansion of affiliated federally qualified health centers (FQHCs).

According to the terms of the new alliance, each entity will remain independent and continue to be responsible for its own assets, operations and liabilities, and neither party nor its Board of Trustees will have any legal responsibility over the other. Each shall continue to be operated under the direction and control of their respective governing boards. Their respective endowments and all other funds shall remain separate and be managed separately. Funding and operational management for new programs and services will be developed by and jointly agreed upon by a newly formed joint operating committee for the alliance.

About Hackensack University Health Network
Hackensack University Health Network is the non-profit, New Jersey-based parent company of HackensackUMC, the HackensackUMC Foundation, Hackensack University HealthPartners Medical Group, and corporate joint venture partners with LHP Hospital Group (Dallas, TX) in ownership of two hospitals: HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley and Mountainside Hospital. With more than 9,000 employees and 2,200 credentialed medical staff members at hospitals within the Network, Hackensack University Health Network is the largest healthcare system in northern New Jersey. The Network has current clinical collaborations and affiliations with Hackettstown Regional Medical Center and Saint Clare's Health System. For more information, go to www.HackensackUMC.org.

About North Shore-LIJ Health System
The nation's second-largest, non-profit, secular healthcare system, North Shore-LIJ delivers world-class clinical care throughout the New York metropolitan area, pioneering research at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and a visionary approach to medical education, highlighted by the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine. North Shore-LIJ cares for people at every stage of life at 15 hospitals, long-term care facilities and more than 200 ambulatory care centers throughout the region. North Shore-LIJ's owned hospitals and long-term care facilities house about 5,600 beds, employ more than 10,000 nurses and have affiliations with more than 9,000 physicians. Its workforce of about 43,000 is the largest on Long Island and the ninth-largest in New York City.  For more information, go to www.northshorelij.com.

SOURCE Hackensack University Medical Center