NYU Langone continued its expansion across Long Island earlier this month, cutting the ribbon to add a hospital in Suffolk County to a network that already includes one in Nassau along with a medical school site as well as numerous outpatient facilities.
The system on March 1 fully merged with the 306-bed Long Island Community Hospital, formerly Brookhaven Memorial Hospital, now renamed NYU Langone Hospital-Suffolk, which had been affiliated with the system. Everything from the sign in front to the culture shifted at this Patchogue hospital to that of NYU Langone as the Manhattan-based system added its seventh hospital.
The hospital also includes the Knapp Cardiac Care Center, a surgical pavilion with specialized services including women’s imaging, a sleep laboratory, and bariatric surgery, as well as the Stroke Center at NYU Langone Hospital-Suffolk
“Our newest hospital has made incredible strides in quality and safety to better serve patients in Suffolk County,” Dr. Robert I Grossman, CEO of NYU Langone Health and dean of NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said in a written statement.
While the most visible changes may have been sudden, the expansion has long been in the works.
“This didn’t happen overnight. This has been a three-year transition,” Dr. Marc S. Adler, senior vice president and chief of hospital operations at NYU Langone Hospital—Suffolk, told the Press. “At a very high altitude, the biggest change is about quality. We brought the NYU quality system here. That has been the driving force.”
The system with $14.2 billion in annual revenue and more than $1 billion in active awards from the National Institutes of Health, also operates the Perlmutter Cancer Center, as well as more than 320 outpatient locations in New York and Florida.
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Adler said NYU “identified this facility as an opportunity to expand the footprint further on Long Island.” He also cited “the longtime generosity of philanthropic partners like the Knapp family” as helping NYU Langone grow.
NYU Langone already expanded to include a Nassau hospital, formerly Winthrop University Hospital, in Mineola, as well as a hospital in Brooklyn, formerly Lutheran hospital, in addition to its Manhattan flagship.
“We’ve been building out our network in Nassau and Suffolk County,” Adler said. “We have hired over 100 providers in Suffolk so far, and we’re actively recruiting for staff in the hospital.”
NYU Langone not only brought employees on board, but systems, skill and spirit, as well as its methods and means of approaching medicine.
“With it came a culture change. It’s about putting the patient first,” Adler added. “And ensuring the patients get the highest quality of care and bringing the recipe for success that has worked in all the other campuses under the NYU umbrella to Suffolk County.”
The system, since starting an affiliation with the Patchogue hospital in March 2022, has added robotic surgery and gynecologic oncology, while enhancing vascular, surgical, gastroenterological, and orthopedic services.
Surgical cases and other operating room procedures increased by more than 50 percent, hospital-acquired conditions decreased by 25%, and the time to see a provider in the emergency department decreased by nearly 70%.
The hospital also introduced infusion services for cancer patients and people with neurological diseases, resulting in 4,000 new visits since May 2023 and plans to further expand this service.
NYU Langone also reopened the inpatient psychiatry unit and invested in outpatient behavioral health services as well as expanding trauma care.
And the system already has expanded in the region, as the Pearlmutter Cancer Center opened Long Island offices.
“We’re trying to enable access and follow-up care,” Adler said. “It’s a continuum of care rather than an episode.”
Like all healthcare systems, NYU Langone integrates and interconnects professionals and patients electronically in its network.
NYU Langone uses Epic’s electronic health record system, MyChart, allowing appointments to be scheduled along with information and medications to be requested through a single application.
And the system has installed MyWall digital tablets in patient rooms, providing technology through the duration of patients’ stay.
Adler said NYU Langone sees other opportunities “to grow our footprint here in Suffolk County” and is already taking steps to better serve Suffolk.
“We are completing two additional operating rooms in the facility and working on rehabilitating a facility in downtown Patchogue on Main Street as a freestanding ambulatory center,” Adler said of a second facility that will have six operating rooms, four endoscopy suites and physician offices.
NYU-Langone since the addition has sponsored employee engagement events, including several opportunities for employees to receive NYU Langone swag.
In addition to the Grossman School of Medicine in Manhattan, NYU Langone also operates the Grossman Long Island School of Medicine in Mineola, both as tuition-free institutions.
“It attracts the best and the brightest. It’s an opportunity to ensure that our future doctors are not burdened with extra expenses,” Adler added. “And they can excel in the specialties best suited for them.”
