North Shore-LIJ Health System has finalized a partnership with Brooklyn's Maimonides Medical Center as the suburban New York giant extends its reach into the city.
The deal is being described as a strategic partnership with Maimonides retaining its own governance and identity—at least initially. “The hope is that the collaboration will work toward integration in the future,” said Mark Claster, who chairs North Shore's board of trustees.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. North Shore, however, will provide Maimonides with a capital injection that will allow it to develop its ambulatory-care strategy, Claster said. It will also help the medical center, which reported an operating deficiency in its most recent earnings report, become more efficient.
Maimonides, a teaching and tertiary-care hospital, is one of the largest participants in New York's Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment program. The medical center is using the DSRIP funding to create a coordinated-care program for Brooklyn's Medicaid population, and the additional ambulatory-care sites will further those efforts.
The two providers began discussions in February, after a number of previous collaborations.
“Brooklyn is a fast-growing area, and it's a borough we want to be in,” Claster said. “And Maimonides was looking for a partner.”
North Shore, based in Great Neck, N.Y., in 2010 took over Lenox Hill Hospital on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It also has affiliations with hospitals in Staten Island and Queens.
For the first half of the year, Maimonides reported a $7.2 million operating deficit on $526.2 million in revenue. Inpatient discharges were flat year over year, while total emergency room visits were down 2.6%.
Maimonides' CEO, Pamela Brier, also said she will retire at the beginning of 2016. She has served in the top role since 2003.
