Atlantic Health System and NYU Langone Health will coordinate heart and liver transplant care via a clinical affiliation, the New Jersey and New York not-for-profit health systems announced Monday.
Atlantic clinicians will provide pre- and post-transplant care at Morristown Medical Center's Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute and Overlook Medical Center while physicians at the NYU Langone Transplant Institute will perform the surgeries.
Dr. Harmit Kalia, a hepatologist and director of liver transplant outreach at NYU Langone, will join Overlook's staff while continuing to practice at NYU Langone.
"This new affiliation will strengthen our nationally ranked cardiac program, while significantly enhancing our ability to care for patients with advanced liver disease," Atlantic CEO Brian Gragnolati said in a statement.
The affiliation will boost access and related research, executives said.
"More livers and hearts from donors who are New Jersey residents will go to New Jersey recipients as a result of this partnership," Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute and chair of surgery at NYU Langone, said during a conference call with reporters.
More health systems and hospitals are pursuing clinical affiliations, joint operating agreements, professional services arrangements and other joint ventures. They can be a testing ground for mergers and acquisitions or take the place of formal integration while yielding many of the same benefits, M&A experts said.
Atlantic recently expanded its clinical affiliation with CentraState Healthcare System to become a majority corporate member of the Freehold, N.J.-based system with a hospital, three senior-living communities and four outpatient facilities. While CentraState still owns its facilities, its providers are managed by Atlantic and have access to its electronic health record, administrative resources and other infrastructure.
