White Plains Hospital and Scarsdale Medical Group Solidify Partnership
In early July, White Plains Hospital (WPH) and Scarsdale Medical Group (SMG) formed a partnership that will add 44 new staff, 22 outpatient facilities and over 200,000 patients to the growing WPH network, solidifying a relationship between the two entities that has been growing steadily over several years.
The move also establishes Central Westchester and more specifically, White Plains, as a major medical region, providing high-tech treatment and care with local physicians and easy-access facilities. The result is a perfect synergy.
In a recent interview, Frances Bordoni, Senior VP, Ambulatory & Physician Services and Business Development at WPH, said, the new venture will provide patients already with each of the facilities better continuity of care. Much of that continuity being made possible by a new electronic medical records system called EPIC that will streamline communications between physicians and help to better coordinate a patient’s care.
With WPH specializing in cardiac surgery (there are two cardiac cath labs), robotics, clinical trials and cutting edge treatments, a patient referred for care from the growing network will already be in the EPIC system with all of her information up to date and easily accessible.
“It’s all about collaboration,” Bordoni said. “There’s a lot of innovation going on at White Plains Hospital,” she noted, adding that most of the physicians with Scarsdale Medical Group are already associated with WPH.
The change will be that White Plains Hospital becomes their primary contact for hospital care.
Bordoni also noted that WPH’s recent additions and redesign has created an atmosphere that is welcoming to patients and their families. “It’s a healing environment,” she said.
Kim Carriere, COO at Scarsdale Medical Group, agreed that collaboration was key to good patient care. “The relationship with White Plains Hospital bolsters our services,” she said.
Carriere explained that SMG has four full-time dermatologists, providing true medical dermatology that is an enhancement for WPH. She added that the 60-year old group had many physicians who have remained dedicated to the practice, serving generations in families.
“We had been looking at facilities before we made the decision to partner with White Plains Hospital,” Carriere said. “We wanted to keep our patients within the community, so the partnership is strategic. We have clinicians who are very selective and we wanted a good synergy.”
SMG pulls from a number of Westchester communities including Larchmont, Rye, and Mamaroneck as well as Scarsdale and White Plains. “SMG can really use the enhanced services provided by WPH with its huge campus center. It’s really about offering good care,” Carriere emphasized.
Carriere said SMG would be linked into the EPIC system by next year. “It’s a tremendous system,” she added. “If a patient ends up in the emergency department, everything that happened will be recorded on EPIC. All the necessary information will be right there.”
With both SMG and WPH having strong roots in the community and reputations for excellence, patients will be able to have seamless access to a growing network of services right near their homes, right here in Westchester, Susan Fox, President and CEO of White Plains Hospital said as she signed the paperwork to make the new venture a reality.
