Seward Salutes Grant Awards For Bassett Healthcare, Cortland Regional Medical Center

ALBANY, 06/15/12 -- State Senator James L. Seward (R/C/I – Oneonta) today commented on grants awarded to Bassett Healthcare Network and Cortland Regional Medical Center under the Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law of New York State (HEAL-NY): 

“Delivering healthcare services to rural, low-income areas is extremely demanding.  The professionals at Bassett Healthcare and Cortland Regional Medical Center know full well the obstacles and strive to successfully meet the challenges. 

“These health care providers play integral roles in the health and well being of residents throughout the region.  The HEAL-NY funding will assist in delivering services in a more efficient and cost-effective manner while at the same time taking into account the unique health care needs of area families, senior citizens and needy residents.

"I was pleased to support the outstanding grant applications from Bassett and CRMC and thrilled to learn of their approval by the governor.”

Bassett Healthcare will receive funding for two major initiatives: 

• A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital bed reconfiguration ($8.7 million).  This funding will allow A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital to reduce, restructure and modernize its inpatient bed complement to achieve operating cost efficiencies and support quality improvements;

• Cobleskill Primary Care facility ($5 million).  This funding will allow Bassett to construct a new primary care facility on the Cobleskill Regional Hospital campus to better meet the primary care needs of residents in rural Schoharie County.

Cortland Regional Medical Center’s project contains two main components:

• Building on existing collaborative relationships with Family Health Network (FHN) and St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center to reduce hospital readmission rates and discharge patients more quickly with proper support;

• A renovation project that will support the new delivery model by co-locating the various outpatient services in space previously occupied by the inpatient intensive care unit.

Statewide, the $301.1 million in HEAL-NY grants will help 40 hospitals and nursing homes across the state improve primary and community-based care, eliminate excess bed capacity, and reduce over-reliance on inpatient care in hospitals and nursing homes. 

The awards are allocated through the New York State Department of Health (DOH) and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) and are part of nearly $3 billion in funding that has been invested in health care reform through 20 separate HEAL-NY phases over the past seven years.

The grants will help implement recommendations from Governor Cuomo's Medicaid Redesign Team, including enabling health care facilities to deliver more efficient, higher quality care through restructuring, merging, and realigning operations. 

Additionally, the awards will help develop collaborative projects among health care providers and will support capital projects, such as the conversion of hospital inpatient space to outpatient and ambulatory care and inpatient nursing home capacity to other less-restrictive forms of long-term care.

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