Senator Lavalle Comments on East End Alliance Heal NY Grant

Kenneth P. LaValle

September 28, 2009

Senator Kenneth P. LaValle was pleased to learn that the East End Health Alliance has been awarded nearly $13 million in grant money under the Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law of Hew York State (HEAL NY).  The funding will help the Alliance create a core clinical laboratory that will serve Eastern Long Island Hospital, Peconic Bay Medical Center and Southampton Hospital, their medical staff, and community nursing homes.

“The original vision for the Alliance was to build a network of hospitals that would no longer compete, but rather pool resources to provide cost-effective quality health care in a cooperative manner,” said Senator LaValle.  “In discussions about its future, we hoped state funding would be made available to help the Alliance achieve this goal and improve access and affordability to health care.  This HEAL NY grant is extremely important to ensuring that this health care model continues to thrive and improve the quality of patient care on the East End.”

According to Senator LaValle, the HEAL NY grant money will be used to build a 15,000 square foot laboratory, purchase state-of-the-art equipment, enhance the existing laboratory information system, and renovate vacated space at Southampton Hospital to accommodate obstetrics services and create a primary care continuity clinic for the hospital’s residency program.  The core clinical laboratory will be the first shared service operated by the East End Health Alliance as the active parent of the three East End hospitals.