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HealthCare

95

St. Joseph’s to join CHE Trinity Health

STORY, PAGE 2

Associates for Women’s Medicine opens location in Camillus. Page 3.

Health-Care People-on-the- Move news.Page 5.

The List: Home Health-Care Agencies. Page 7.

INSIDE

PHOTO COURTESY OF ST. JOSEPH’S HOSPITAL HEALTH CENTER

A NEW AFFILIATION

August 9, 2013

B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L N E W S N E T W O R K

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A NEW AFFILIATION

• HealthCare Provider August 9, 2013

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on July 17 an-nounced that the Department of Financial Services (DFS) has ap-proved health-insurance plan rates for 17 insurers seeking to offer cover-age through the New York Health Benefit Exchange.

The state approved the rates for health plans that serve subscribers in Central

New York, including Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS), the region’s largest health insurer.

DFS also approved the rates for Schenectady–based MVP Health Care; Minnetonka, Minn.–based UnitedHealthcare; Hartford, Conn.–based Aetna, Inc.; and Albany–based Capital

District Physicians Health Plan, Inc.The state exchange will organize the

plans in four metal tiers (bronze, silver, gold, and platinum), which is supposed to allow consumers and businesses to make a comparison.

The plans within each metal tier will have standardized contract terms and prod-uct offerings, which is meant to encourage price competition among insurers, the gov-ernor’s office said.

Previously, New York insurers offered more than 15,000 plans that “widely var-ied” in the level and quality of coverage provided, which encouraged “competition through confusion” and made it difficult for purchasers to effectively compare plans side by side, the governor contends.

On average, the approved 2014 rates for the highest tier of plans that individual New York consumers could purchase on the ex-change (gold and platinum) represent a 53 percent reduction compared to last year’s direct-pay individual health-insurance rates, the governor’s office asserts.

The state attributes the lower rates to the

expected rise in uninsured New Yorkers buying coverage in the individual health-insurance market due to the health-care law’s mandate that individuals purchase insurance starting next year. New York’s current individual health-insurance market is relatively small.

The state also notes that the 53 percent reduction does not include the effect of federal subsidies for individuals meeting certain income thresholds who are pur-chasing coverage on the exchange, which could lower their costs even further.

Health-care insurance costs per capita in New York currently run about 18 percent higher than the national average, as the state mandates that insurers cover pre-existing conditions and a variety of medical conditions and services not mandated in other states, while not currently requiring individuals to buy health insurance.

But the average approved rates for the benchmark individual “silver plan” in New York in 2014 would be in line with (or near-ly 10 percent lower) than the nationwide average that the Congressional Budget

Office (CBO) previously forecast for the full implementation of the federal health-care reform law, Cuomo’s office said.

For approved 2014 small-group plan rates, existing premium rates do not pro-vide a functional year-over-year compari-son, the state asserts.

In 2013, insurers offered more than 15,000 different small-group plans that significantly varied in terms of the quality and level of coverage provided. This year, insurers are offering standardized contracts and product offerings within metal tiers (bronze, silver, gold, and platinum), the state said.

The approved small-group rates, how-ever, are “generally lower” than indicated by the estimates of other independent fore-casters, the governor’s office contends.

The average approved small-group rate in New York for the benchmark “silver plan” is “well below,” or nearly 32 percent lower, than the nationwide average previ-ously forecast by the independent CBO, notwithstanding the “relatively higher” per capita health-care costs in New York com-pared to other states, according to the governor’s news release.

A number of small businesses will be eli-gible for tax credits that would lower those premium costs even further, according to the governor’s office.

Contact Reinhardt at [email protected]

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New York approves rates for 17 health insurers in upcoming benefit exchange

ERIC REINHARDTJOURNAL STAFF

St. Joseph’s to join 2nd largest Catholic health-care systemExpects to finalize agreement with CHE Trinity Health in about two to five months

SYRACUSE — St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center has agreed to join the second-biggest Catholic health-care sys-tem in the nation, in a move to boost its standing in the changing health-care market as the national health-reform law is implemented.

St. Joseph’s Hospital on July 10 announced its intention to join Livonia, Mich.–based Catholic Health East (CHE) Trinity Health,

which provides health-care services in 21 states via 82 hospitals and 89 other facilities and programs. The board of directors of both organizations signed a non-binding let-ter of intent (LOI) the day before.

St. Joseph’s expects to finalize the agree-ment with CHE Trinity in about two to five months, according to Kathryn Ruscitto, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center.

The move will shift the sponsorship of St. Joseph’s Hospital from the Sisters of

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HealthCare Provider • August 9, 2013

CAMILLUS — Associates for Women’s Medicine (AWM), which provides obstetrics and gynecolo-gy services, has opened a new office in Camillus, the fifth site for the practice in Central New York.

The medical practice is now serving patients in an 1,800-square-foot space at Medical Center West at 5700 W. Genesee St. in Camillus.

AWM opened its newest facility to meet the needs of its pa-tients on the west side of Syracuse, says Dana Karanik, administrator

for the practice. “We had a lot of patients on that side

of town, and we didn’t have a location out there,” says Karanik, who was speaking from her office at the AWM location at 770 James St. in Syracuse.

Besides Camillus and Syracuse, AWM also operates offices at 792 1/2 North Main St. at Village Medical Park in Cicero, 4820 W. Taft Rd. in Clay, and 4302 Medical Center Dr. at Northeast Medical Center in

Fayetteville, according to its website.The Syracuse and Cicero offices are the

largest of the five facilities and are consid-ered the main offices, Karanik says.

AWM officials began mulling establishing a location in Camillus during the latter half of 2012.

“It actually happened pretty quickly,” Karanik says.

The practice hopes to add space at its Camillus location in the months ahead, she says.

AWM declined to disclose information about its lease terms.

Karanik also wouldn’t disclose how much it cost the practice to open the Camillus office.

“I don’t feel comfortable divulging the exact amount, but we did set up a budget and we were happy that we were able to accomplish that goal,” Karanik says. She also declined to disclose how the practice financed the opening of the Camillus loca-tion.

AWM moved into space from Hematology/Oncology Associates of Central New York, P.C. after it scaled back operations and didn’t need as much space, according to Karanik.

“We utilized mostly what was already

there. We had very little build out when we assumed the space,” Karanik says.

Harmony Architectural Associates, PC

of Syracuse served as the architect on the space, Karanik says. Rich & Gardner Construction Co. was the contractor on the project.

Karanik declined to disclose the cost of the site preparation.

Associates for Women’s Medicine in-cludes board-certified obstetricians and gy-necologists, along with licensed midwives and other professional staff providing care for patients.

The practice also provides some imag-ing services, blood testing, and office-based surgery at the Fayetteville location.

Several providers joined together in 2000 to create the present practice, Karanik says.

Eight physicians serve on the practice’s board of directors including Dr. Richard Waldman, who serves as board president; Dr. James Brown, the board vice presi-dent; Dr. Christopher LaRussa, who is the board’s treasurer and secretary, according to the practice’s website.

The practice employs a total of 90 peo-ple.

The employee count includes 10 local physicians, two from the University of Rochester Medical Center, and six clinical providers, accord-ing to the practice’s web-site.

The clinical providers include Therese Brown-Mahoney, a certified nurse midwife and licensed nurse practitioner, who has joined the Camillus practice.

Brown-Mahoney joins doctors James Brown, Melissa Brown and Sheena Mathew at the Camillus location.

That same office also has a secretary, a full-time medical assistant, a part-time medical assistant, and the nurses come with their respective providers, Karanik says.

The physicians in the AWM practice, on average, rotate between three of its five locations, according to Karanik.

A new physician, Dr. Michelle Auerbach, will begin in October and treat patients in the Cicero, Camillus, and Syracuse of-fices.

Most of its physicians are affiliated with St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center, accord-ing to the AWM website.


Associates for Women’s Medicine opens location in Camillus


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The provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the federal health-care reform law), combined with an aging health-care work-force and state popu-lation, will increase the demand for health-care professionals and expand their roles “dramatically.”

That’s according to a new study that the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) issued recently.

HANYS’ 2013 Nursing and Allied Health Care Professionals Workforce Survey re-port, entitled, “New York’s Health Care

Sector: A Changing, Growing Workforce,” provides findings from a 2013 survey of hos-pitals, including ques-tions on hiring trends,

vacancies, turnover, and current hospital-workforce practices.

“As hospitals and health systems across

New York … embrace in-novative new ways to care for their communities, we will need health-care professionals trained and ready to provide this need-ed care,” HANYS president Dennis Whalen said in a news release.

HANYS and its mem-bers have been advocating for legislation to address workforce shortages; educational capacity; ad-vancement of health-care professionals; regulatory reform for workforce flexibility; and additional funding for recruitment, retention, and retraining, Whalen noted.

With the transition in health care to alternative models of care delivery, such as the patient-cen-tered medical home and health-home models, nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) will play an “increasingly” important role in providing care, particularly in com-munities with “insufficient” [numbers of] primary-care physicians, HANYS said.

The NP vacancy rate nearly doubled from 6 per-cent in 2011 to 11.4 percent in 2012, and the PA vacancy rate increased from 6 percent to 7.3 percent in the same time period, the HANYS report noted.

The HANYS survey also found nurse managers, experienced registered nurses (RNs), clinical-laboratory technologists,

medical coders, and physi-cal therapists are the most difficult occupations for which to recruit.

Health care was the only sector that demonstrated growth during the recent economic downturn, but current levels of RNs will not meet future demand, a problem compounded by the need for a workforce with specialty skills, the re-port also said.

For the first time, a ma-jority of respondents said they preferred to hire nurs-es with a bachelor’s degree in nursing. About 70 per-cent of respondents favored advanced education, a fig-ure that represents a “sig-nificant” increase from the 46 percent of respondents providing an answer to the same question in 2011, the HANYS report found.

The report includes re-sponses from 110 hospitals and health systems across New York state. Both HANYS and the Greater New York Hospital Association conducted the survey in collaboration with Western New York Healthcare Association, Rochester

Regional Healthcare Association, Iroquois Healthcare Alliance, Suburban Healthcare Alliance, and the State University of New York Center for Health Workforce Studies.


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Page 10 • HealthCare Provider February 8, 2013

With Wellness: You Don’t Have to be a Big Business to Achieve Big ResultsWellness is a state of mind and body. It’s an individual thing. So, when it comes to employee participation, let’s not get lured into the misconception that well-ness only works in large numbers, and therefore is more fitting for a sprawl-ing Fortune 500 company than it is for a small busi-ness with 25 to 100 em-ployees.

Wellness today is for all employers and all of their employees. Even back in the 1980s

when I was consulting with small businesses, some of them had a well-ness program in place, and didn’t even realize it. When break time came, the employees of one

particular small business would take a walk around the block. Walking together during business hours was built into this com-pany’s culture. The only difference between then and now is today we would count the steps with a pedometer clipped to our belt

and walk with iPod buds stuck in our ears as opposed to a Sony Walkman. But the results remain the same.

But when it comes to getting companies to implement a wellness program into their corporate culture, it all comes down to get-ting them to practice what you preach. And what I found to be effective is utilizing the old KISS system with a slight modification — Keep It Simple Sells.

This is not to suggest that a good insur-ance agent doesn’t know that having a solid health and wellness plan in place will benefit his/her client. But sometimes the litany of objections from the employers — “There’s nothing I can do about health-care costs going up,” “It’s too expensive,” “We don’t have the facilities for exercise,” “My employees won’t want to do it” — can be overwhelming.

John Basten of The Mid-State Group in Lynchburg, Va. says employers are frustrat-ed with the ever-increasing cost of health premiums, and thus turn to brokers for solutions, which often include delivering “wellness” by implementing disincentives and benefit-design changes in an effort to change behavior. It’s a concept that Basten says doesn’t work.

“It’s only through education that you can guide employers to better understand the risks and obstacles they are facing,” he ex-plains. “Essentially, step one is to help them

identify the specific health factors within their company, because when real data drives the decision, one can plan for the expected re-sults.”

York International, a large regional bro-ker in Harrison, N.Y. derives about 25 per-cent of its $10 million in revenue from benefits serving the middle-market employ-er of 50-2,500 employees. For the past five years, York has been focusing on drawing employee benefits and wellness resources and capabilities from much larger busi-nesses to bring to smaller firms.

“The Fortune 1000 or 5000 have been practicing engaging employees in health beyond the financing of sickness for many years and we think that there is a tremen-dous opportunity to continue to do that with these middle-market companies,” ex-plains Mike Bodack of York International. “When our point of entry is who we call the ‘user buyer’ of insurance for their company, we try to engage the ‘economic buyer’ as well. It is not often the same person, but it does happen on occasion.”“When we deal with that economic buyer, we find that it is easy to focus the conversa-tion,” he adds. “Certainly, some folks will have their head in the sand. But the ones who are intelligent, rational human beings understand very quickly. Because in the end, it’s just a math problem.”

When employers perceive wellness as an added cost instead of an added benefit, bad things happen. Or nothing happens at all. Basten of the Mid-State Group has fought that battle for years.

“Employers are frustrated with the ever-increasing cost of health care and are look-ing for viable strategies to reverse the trend,” he says. “Many are looking for quick fixes which end in employers spending excessive funds in areas that don’t have long-lasting effects. Our specific focus is to educate the employer on how wellness should be defined as an employee benefit. We educate our clients that identifying the specific risk factors affecting their employee group is an essential and foundational step in creating an effective wellness program, starting with getting a minimum of 90 percent of their employees to complete a health-risk assess-ment without providing incentives.”

Getting the employees behind a well-ness program can often be the fuel that jump-starts an employer’s decision-making process, as now he/she sees what was per-ceived as a potential expense reaping poten-tial dividends in increased employee morale and decreased employee sick days.

As York International’s Bodack sees it, it’s all about the employee kick-off. “We’ve received tremendous response from our kickoff meetings,” he says. “The delivery of the health-risk assessment to an employee is a measure of control all by itself. When an employee takes the 10 minutes to read it, it may be more information than they get about their health from their own doctor. And, an annual health-risk assessment of-fers the employee a grand picture of his or

her health, year after year.”He adds, “When employees have some-

thing personalized, such as their HRA, and see directives they can look at year after year, it provides a tremendous level of control and a heightened awareness. We routinely reach 85 percent or 90 percent involvement from employees who review their Health Risk Assessments.”

One point that Bodack and Basten agree on as wellness experts is that employers should not rely on incentives for employee involvement in the program. And, converse-ly, neither should they be penalized for not participating.

“Employees are already struggling with family pressures and an uncertainty about the future,” says Basten. “The last thing em-ployees need is a work environment where they are told what not to do and being penalized for doing so. This doesn’t create a thriving corporate culture. Wellness should be offered solely as a benefit and not as a ‘reward,’ and delivered to the employees as such. Only then will the employer get the proper participation they need for the program to be successful.”

Mark Nantz of Knapp Miller Brown Insurance Services in Salem, Ind. says a key component of a successful wellness program, which he has used many times, is the shared clinic model, a benefit which also includes wellness coaches. “The shared clinic model allows smaller employers to use the clinic model, as long as there is a larger employer to act as the anchor,” says Nantz. “Think of a shopping center with the large big box store as the anchor tenant. A large employer can have its own clinic and it can act as an anchor for surrounding com-panies to share its on-site clinic. On-site clin-ics can also pull out employees with chronic illnesses and focus on wellness initiatives for those folks.”

It has become increasingly clear that workers’ compensation, employee benefits, and wellness are the three faces of employ-ee health, and the cost of that health means insurance producers must be equipped to bring a unified approach to employers. With the new health-care reform legislation, em-ployers will have an enormous need for expert advice on benefits and wellness. The insurance agents of the future are quickly arming themselves with new ways to at-tack the true root causes that are driving up health-care costs. And if employers can make their employees healthier without cutting benefits or shifting more premium costs to their employees, where is the down-side? q

Preston Diamond is managing director and co-founder of the Institute of WorkComp Professionals (IWCP), based in Asheville, N.C. In 2010, IWCP created a sister orga-nization, the Institute of Benefits & Wellness Advisors, that trains, tests, and certifies ben-efit and property & casualty insurance agents in wellness and employee benefits. Contact him at [email protected]

PRESTON DIAMONDVIEWPOINT

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HANYS sees continued increase in demand, expansion of roles for NY health-care providers


“As hospitals and health systems

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baldwinsville family medical care

Baldwinsville Family Medical Care, an af-filiate of St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center, has appointed Timothy Tramontana, M.D., as medical director. He will serve as the senior medical leader, respon-sible for provider over-sight and the development of policies and procedures. Tramontana recently became certified in clinical lipidology, a medical specialty focusing on lipid management and preventive cardiology. He received his doctorate in medicine from Ross University School of Medicine and completed his residency in family medicine at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center in Syracuse, where he was chief resident. Tramontana is a mem-ber of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Onondaga Medical Society, and the National Lipid Association. Prior to joining Baldwinsville Family Medical Care, Tramontana worked as a primary care physician at Glades Medical Group in Boca Raton, Fla. He was also a physician with St. Joseph’s Urgent Care at North Medical Center in Clay. Before beginning his medical studies, Tramontana spent two years working as a chemistry teacher in Rochester. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Nazareth College of Rochester and a master’s degree in edu-cation from SUNY Brockport. Tramontana is fluent in Spanish and has previously worked with LUCES, an organization work-ing with impoverished Hispanics afflicted with AIDS in Rochester.

danlee medical products

Danlee Medical Products, Inc. an-nounced that Brenda Schoeck has joined the firm to further develop its profile of growing regional and national accounts. She brings a wealth of experience in

the sales industry, having spent the last 18 years at Gaylord Bros. In addition to her expertise in the sales industry, Schoeck provides a diverse background of experi-ence in multiple sectors which range from accounting to inventory control, Danlee says.

familycare medical group

Ann Marie Derecola has joined FamilyCare Medical Group, PC as chief administrative officer. She previously held the position of director of operations for Laboratory Alliance of Central New York, LLC in Liverpool. Derecola earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Millersville University of Pennsylvania in Millersville, Pa., her medi-cal technology degree from Saint Joseph Medical Center in Reading, Pa., and her MBA from Syracuse University.

faxton st. luke’s healthcare

Mark Boulanger has been named director of radiation oncology for The Regional Cancer Center at Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare (FSLH). He is also the regional administra-tor for 21st Century Oncology in Utica. Through these two po-sitions, he serves as the liaison between FSLH and 21st Century Oncology. Prior to joining FSLH, Boulanger was the op-erations manager of radiation oncology for the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkley, Calif.; the chief of radiation therapy for the University of California in San Francisco; and the operations manager of radiation oncology for Ellis Hospital in Schenectady. Boulanger received his de-gree in radiation therapy from the Ottawa School of Radiation Therapy in Canada.

Olga Pavlyukovets has been named nurse practitioner/palliative care consul-

tant for The Regional Cancer Center. Her previous position with FSLH was as a fam-ily nurse practitioner with the Adirondack Community Physicians. She also worked as a staff RN and charge nurse on the acute inpatient rehabilitation unit at FSLH. Pavlyukovets received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the family nurse prac-titioner accelerated program from SUNYIT Utica/Rome in Marcy.

Evelyn P. Kropp has been named pal-liative-care navigator. Her previous position at FSLH was as a clini-cal information spe-cialist. Kropp earned her degree in nursing from Ellis Hospital School of Nursing in Schenectady and her bachelor’s degree of professional studies in health services man-agement from SUNYIT Utica/Rome.

Suzanne M. Simmons has been named administrative assistant. Her previous posi-tions with FSLH were as an administrative assistant to the director of nursing for quality and programs and the director of nursing for surgical services. Prior to join-

ing FSLH, Simmons worked as a marketing coordinator and exec-utive assistant to the president for Fastrac Markets in Rome. She has more than 25 years executive-level administrative assis-tance and completed FSLH’S Aspiring Leaders Program in 2010. Simmons earned her bachelor’s degree in English from SUNY Brockport.

healtheconnections

Dennis Sherba has been promot-ed to director of HIE Integration for HealtheConnections. Prior to joining HealtheConnections, he was project coor-dinator, focusing on hospital and clinical in-tegration for Southern Tier Health Link. He received his bach-elor’s degree in computer science and his MBA from St. Bonaventure University. Timothy Kelly and Debra Spaulding have been hired as provider-engagement

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Page 10 • HealthCare Provider October 26, 2012

A New York City–based not-for-profit home health-care organization has received state approval to expand its Medicaid managed long-term care plan to 24 counties out-side of the city — includ-ing several in the Syracuse and Utica areas.

The Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) is moving on plans to spread its VNSNY Choice Medicaid Managed Long Term Care plan to Herkimer, Madison, Oneida, and Onondaga counties. That’s after the state approved the market expan-sion in September.

The managed long-term care plan is tar-geted at seniors and individuals with chron-ic illnesses and disabil-ities who cannot live

independently at home, but do not want to move into a nursing home. It’s a voluntary option for Medicaid-eligible beneficiaries that provides nurse-care managers who visit members’ homes and coordinate the health-care services they receive.

News of VNSNY Choice’s expansion follows New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ac-cepting recommendations from a Medicaid Redesign Team in February. The redesign lifted a moratorium on the extension of existing Medicaid managed-care plans, ac-cording to Christopher Palmieri, president of VNSNY Choice Health Plans, who also acted as an adviser to the state during its Medicaid redesign. VNSNY has been open

to the option of growing its service area since before that moratorium was lifted, he adds.

“We’ve been interested in expanding our service area since about 2003,” he says. “It was something that we’ve been working on for the entire year. We started our process to apply for market expansion in the early part of 2012.”

VNSNY Choice isn’t the only Medicaid managed long-term care plan that will be growing into Central New York and its sur-rounding areas. Fidelis Care, a Catholic health plan based in Rego Park in the New York City borough of Queens, announced in August it was expanding its Fidelis Care at Home managed long-term care program into 11 counties in and around Central New York.

Numerous plans have applied to the state for expansion, Palmieri says. VNSNY Choice wants to offer its plan to all eligible New York residents eventually, he contin-ues.

“Our organization felt that we should be offering our coordinated care through managed long-term care across the state,” Palmieri says. “[This] expansion was one step toward becoming a statewide health plan and serving all 62 counties in the state.”

MV/CNY expansionVNSNY Choice has opened a Utica–area

office at 2 Ellinwood Drive in New Hartford and hired three employees to start building relationships with senior centers, nursing organizations, and hospitals that could be-come part of its network. Palmieri expects to hire more employees in Central New York and the Mohawk Valley in the future, although exact timelines and staffing levels are not set.

“It is safe to say that we’ll have a major

presence in Oneida County, Herkimer County, and Onondaga County, and we’ll look at whether we need an office in Madison County,” he says. “A lot of our work force is field based.”

VNSNY Choice has hired its own nurse care managers in New York City. It could follow that model in upstate New York, or it could turn to subcontractors if they seem like a good fit, Palmieri says.

“Those care managers have a direct relationship with the patients today,” he says. “When there aren’t those opportuni-ties, we’re happy to build the infrastructure ourselves.”

The Medicaid managed long-term care plan does not have any members in Central New York or the Mohawk Valley at the mo-ment. It could sign up interested members today but will likely make a push at the end of 2012 or beginning of 2013, according to Palmieri.

VNSNY Choice doesn’t know how many members it will sign up, and it’s not clear how many competitors it will face in the up-state market. It has nearly 14,000 managed long-term care beneficiaries in New York City, Palmieri says.

Rough estimates show the plan will re-ceive about $18,500 per member per year in Medicaid revenue. Those payments will vary by hundreds of dollars in different state rating regions, however.

“Around the first of the year is when we’ll have a formalized business plan based upon what we’ve projected and budgeted,” Palmieri says. “The challenge we have right now is, because there has not been a man-aged long-term care delivery system for this type of long-term care in the past, it’s going to be tricky to get the rates right.”

VNSNY Choice has 1,470 total employ-ees. It offers Medicare Advantage plans, Medicaid long-term care plans, and a health plan for individuals with HIV/AIDS and their children. It forecasts premium revenue of about $1 billion in 2012 — about $550 million of which will come from man-aged long-term care plans. Palmieri didn’t

have estimates of premium revenue for 2013, but says top-line revenue is estimated to be about $1.8 billion in 2013.

The managed long-term care plan has existing operations in New York City’s five boroughs and previously received state approval to grow into Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties.

More recent state decisions have given it approval to expand into Herkimer, Madison, Oneida, and Onondaga counties, as well as other counties. They include Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Otsego, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Saratoga, Schoharie, Warren, Washington, and Monroe counties.

VNSNY Choice has hired seven people in Fishkill in Dutchess County to spearhead its efforts in the Hudson Valley counties. It leased a 3,000-square-foot office there.

Palmieri is no stranger to the Mohawk Valley. He’s a Utica–area native who helped build Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare’s Senior Network Health managed long-term health-care plan in the late 1990s, he says. q

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RICK SELTZER

JOURNAL STAFF

Servicing the Southern Tier And Central New York

specialists. Kelly has an extensive back-ground in hospital and health care from positions at Upstate University Hospital and New York Heart Center. He is a certi-fied emergency medical technician (basic) and serves as a North Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps volunteer. Kelly earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Syracuse University and his asso-ciate degree in health-care management from American InterContinental University. Spaulding previously worked for Upstate University Hospital as a business analyst

and at Emblem Health as a hospital con-tract manager. She has a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology from the University at Buffalo and a master’s degree in education from Le Moyne College.

industrial medical associates

Michelle L. Smith joined Industrial Medical Associates (IMA) in the marketing and client services department. She imple-ments marketing plans and assists clients with new accounts and account changes. Smith has more than 15 years sales and marketing experience, working for not-for-profits and private companies.

nephrology associates of syracuse

Anne E. Zaccheo has been named prac-tice director at Nephrology Associates of Syracuse, PC. She was previously director of

provider operations at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. Zaccheo earned her MBA and bachelor’s degree from Union College.

orthodontics of the southern tier

Helmy Y. Mostafa, D.D.S., DScD. has joined Orthodontics of the Southern Tier. He earned his certificate of advanced grad-uate studies in orthodontics & dentofacial orthopedics from Jacksonville University School of Orthodontics in Jacksonville, Fla. and his DScD. from the Boston University School of Dental Medicine.

presbyterian homes & services, inc.

Presbyterian Homes & Services, Inc. has hired Garth Livermore as director of building services. His experience includes time as a journeyman and master carpen-

ter, as well as more than 15 years as a lead foreman and superintendent for commer-cial, residential, and agricultural projects. He has also worked as a freelance carpen-ter, construction manager, and nationwide consultant.

st. joseph’s hospital health center

The following individuals have recently joined St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center’s active medical staff. In the specialty of fam-ily medicine, Andrew Hathaway, M.D. and Chelsea C. Doyen, M.D. In the spe-cialty of emergency medicine, Jonathan Pangia, D.O.; Maxime J. Berube, M.D.; Timothy P. Cobb, D.O.; and Ardijan Hasandzekaj, M.D. In the specialty of in-ternal medicine, Leyaini Cabezas, M.D.; Quynh H. Hoang, M.D.; and Thomas C. Lee, M.D. In the specialty of radiology, Joseph Andriole, M.D. q

Kellyspaulding

health-care-PeOPle-ON-the-MOVe News (continued)

St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, which founded the hospital 144 years ago, to Catholic Health Ministries, the group that sponsors CHE Trinity Health.

St. Joseph’s looked for a partner that could help the hospital preserve its mission and that could provide “access to intellectual capital, access to capital,” Ruscitto says.

“This is not a sale. This is a change in sponsorship,” she stresses.

CHE Trinity Health will provide the sponsorship with “reserved powers” that include overseeing and ensuring the hos-pital’s mission by appointing the board of directors and hiring and firing the CEO. It will also approve “major capital expendi-tures,” she says.

“So the same power the Sisters [of St. Francis] have will now transfer to CHE Trinity,” Ruscitto adds.

The sisters who founded this Catholic health-care system developed a “system allocation that is very small compared to what the return on benefit is to the organi-zation,” she says.

Ruscitto declined to disclose how much St. Joseph’s will pay in fees annually to be part of the CHE Trinity Health organiza-

tion. CHE Trinity Health was formed in May

when Pennsylvania–based Catholic Health East merged with Michigan–based Trinity Health. The combined system gener-ates annual operating revenue of about $13.3 billion and has assets of about $19.3 billion. It employs more than 87,000 people, including 4,100 employed physicians, according to a joint news release from St. Joseph’s and CHE Trinity Health.

The non-binding LOI is the first such agreement CHE Trinity Health has en-tered into since consolidating.

Catholic Health System of Buffalo and St. Peter’s Health Partners in Albany are also part of the CHE Trinity Health sys-tem, Ruscitto says.

The system includes 85 hospitals that are able to achieve “both intellectual best practices, as well as capital,” Ruscitto says.

“For example, their bond rating at CHE Trinity across all their hospitals is a AA+,” Ruscitto says.

As a member of a system with that many hospitals, facilities can self-insure for mal-practice and can purchase materials “at a much different rate,” she says.

“They [CHE Trinity Health] have al-ready identified substantial savings that

they’re going to be able to help us achieve by scale,” Ruscitto says.

In addition, department directors at St. Joseph’s will be able to speak with the people of similar titles at any of the hos-pitals in the CHE Trinity Health system, she says.

Over the next two to five months of finalizing the agreement, both sides will perform “the necessary due diligence,” according to Ruscitto.

“I want our physicians to talk to physi-cians in the other systems in New York state. And all that’s to make sure that this is a durable partnership going forward,” she says.

St. Joseph’s has been examining this “strategic option” for about three years, Ruscitto says, and the hospital’s discussion with CHE Trinity Health started about a year ago.

The announcement will have no effect on the current employment level of more than 3,700 full-time workers at St. Joseph’s, she adds.

St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center is a nonprofit, 431-bed hospital and health-care system providing services to patients in 16 counties in Central New York.

The hospital generated $586 million

in revenue in 2012 with net income of $9 million.

CHE Trinity Health also offered its thoughts in the joint news release.

CHE Trinity Health is “committed” to strengthening Catholic health care in the U.S., and the system is “delighted” that St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center shares its future vision, Judy Persichilli, interim president and CEO of CHE Trinity Health, said in the release.

“With our scale and scope, commitment to exceptional care, and a unified voice for serving vulnerable people, we believe that we can help St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center meet the challenges of health care reform and continue to provide outstand-ing care for residents of Central New York,” Persichilli said.

Ruscitto also referenced the national health-care reform law as playing a factor in the combination. “This alignment will provide a strong financial foundation for the future of St. Joseph’s and help ensure our ability to meet the potential challenges of health care reform,” she said in the news release. q


st. JOsePh’s: Ruscitto: “This is not a sale. This is a change in sponsorship”

continued from page 2

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THE LISTResearch by Nicole Collins

[email protected] (315) 579-3911

Twitter: @cnybjresearch

NOTES

1. Services Offered: DME= durable medical equipment, MSW= medical social work, NT= nutritional therapy, ON= oncology nurse, Ped.= pediatric therapy, RH = rehabilitation, SN = skilled nursing, ST= speech therapy 2. Formerly the Visiting Nurse Associa-tion of Utica & Oneida County, Inc. 3. Provider did not respond. Informa-tion is from last year’s submission.

ABOUT THE LISTInformation was provided by representatives of listed organizations and their websites. Other groups may have been eligible but did not respond to our requests for information. While The Business Journal strives to print accurate information, it is not possible to independently verify all data submitted. We reserve the right to edit entries or delete categories for space considerations.

WHAT cONSTITUTES THE cNY REgION?Central New York includes Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cor-tland, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Seneca, St. Lawrence, Tioga, and Tompkins counties.

NEEd A cOpY Of A LIST?Electronic versions of all our lists, with additional fields of information and survey contacts, are available for purchase at our website, cnybj.com/Research.aspx

WANT TO BE ON THE LIST?If your company would like to be considered for next year’s list, or another list, please email [email protected]

HOME HEALTH-CARE AGENCIESRanked by No. of Home Health-Care (HHC) Employees

Number of:

Rank

NameAddressPhone/Website

No. ofHHC

Employees RNs LPNs HHAs CNAs PTs OTs Other

Certified?—

Licensed?ServicesOffered1 Key Management

YearEstab.

1.Stafkings Healthcare Systems, Inc.66 Hawley St.Binghamton, NY 13902(607) 772-8080/stafkingshealthcare.com

702 90 127 340 2 0 0 143 N—Y

SN Daniel J. King, PresidentCarter C. King, Vice President

Melissa Wheeler, Executive Director

1962

2.All Metro Health Care526 Old Liverpool RoadLiverpool, NY 13088(315) 453-5537/all-metro.com

308 7 5 140 0 0 0 168 N—Y

SN Christine Rossillo, Branch Manager 1955

3.VNA Homecare1050 W. Genesee St.Syracuse, NY 13204(315) 477-4663/477HOME.org

276 96 23 59 0 17 7 74 Y—Y

MSW, NT,Ped., RH,

SN, ST

M. Kate Rolf, President & CEOJune Castle, CFO

Lynne B. Bird, VP of Managed CareGail G. Carmichel, VP of Clinical Operations

1890

4.Home Aides of Central New York723 James St.Syracuse, NY 13203(315) 476-4295/HomeAidesCNY.org

220 7 3 210 0 0 0 27 N—Y

SN Karen Henry, Senior Director of ClinicalServices

1966

5.Franciscan Companies333 Butternut Drive, Suite 100DeWitt, NY 13214(315) 458-3600/FranciscanCompanies.com

205 8 9 69 0 1 0 118 N—Y

DME, SN Frank L. Smith, President & CEOTim Scanlon, EVP

Gregory Fernandez, CFO

1985

6.Home Care Services at Faxton St. Luke'sHealthcare 2

1650 Champlin Ave.Utica, NY 13502(315) 624-4663/faxtonstlukes.com

203 59 3 50 0 12 6 77 Y—Y

MSW, NT,RH, SN, ST

Scott H. Perra, President/CEO 1915

7.PACE CNY-Loretto Geriatric CenterLicensed Home Care Agency109 Lawrence Road EastNorth Syracuse, NY 13212(315) 452-5800/pacecny.org

180 23 42 115 0 0 0 - N—Y

DME,MSW, NT,RH, SN, ST

Penny B. Abulencia, Executive Director 1997

8.UHS Home Care4401 Vestal Parkway EastVestal, NY 13850(607) 763-5600/uhs.net

173 68 2 43 0 11 8 25 Y—Y

DME,MSW, NT,RH, SN, ST

Joseph Cerra, President & CEO 1986

9.St. Joseph's Certified Home Health CareAgency7246 Janus Park DriveLiverpool, NY 13088(315) 458-2800/sjhomecare.com

145 65 26 12 0 27 5 43 Y—Y

MSW, NT,ON, Ped.,RH, SN, ST

Melissa Allard, Director of Patient Services 1987

10.Hospice of Central New York990 Seventh North St.Liverpool, NY 13088(315) 463-1100/hospicecny.org

110 39 1 1 0 0 0 32 Y—Y

DME,MSW, NT,Ped., SN,

ST

Cynthia Chandler, CEO 1985

11.Lourdes at Home4102 Old Vestal RoadVestal, NY 13850(607) 772-1598/lourdes.com

80 31 5 10 0 5 1 - Y—Y

MSW, NT,Ped., SN,

ST

Rochelle Eggleton, Director 1999

12.Integrity Home Care Services813 Fay RoadSyracuse, NY 13219(315) 468-1484/st-camillus.org

75 5 0 35 0 0 0 35 N—Y

SN Aileen Balitz, PresidentHeather Kemmis, VP of Home Care

Diane Bocyck, Director of Patient Services

1996

13. Family Services of Chemung County3

1019 E. Water St.Elmira, NY 14901(607) 737-1351/familyservicesofchemung.com

64 4 0 60 0 0 0 3 N—Y

- Ted Kordela, Executive Director 1972

14.Comfort Keepers1201 E. Fayette St., Suite 23Syracuse, NY 13210(315) 474-0444/comfortkeepers.com

60 3 0 29 0 0 0 21 N—Y

- Michele Webber, President & Director ofClinical Services

2004

15.Interim HealthCare3300 James St., Suite 201Syracuse, NY 13206(315) 437-4500/interimhealthcare.com

56 2 25 29 0 0 0 - N—Y

Ped., SN Neil Bronstein, President 1975

.Visiting Nurse Service of Ithaca &Tompkins County138 Cecil A. Malone DriveIthaca, NY 14850(607) 273-0466/vnsithaca.org

56 9 2 16 0 6 2 - Y—Y

MSW, NT,Ped., SN,

ST

Sue Ellen Stuart, Executive Director 1985

17.St. Camillus Home Care Agency813 Fay RoadSyracuse, NY 13219(315) 488-2831/st-camillus.org

55 25 5 0 0 14 5 6 Y—N

MSW, NT,RH, SN, ST

Aileen Balitz, President 1983

. Home Care for Cortland County3

111 Port Watson St.Cortland, NY 13045(607) 753-9326

55 0 15 37 0 0 0 3 N—Y

- Robert Austin, Executive Director 1972

19.Family & Children's Society, Inc.355 Riverside DriveJohnson City, NY 13790(607) 772-9776/familycs.org

36 2 0 21 0 0 0 - N—Y

- Frederick DuFour, Executive Director 1941

20.Acacia Home Care2150 Bleecker St.Utica, NY 13501(315) 266-0614/acaciahomecare.org

31 9 3 6 0 8 4 10 Y—Y

MSW, NT,SN, ST

Robert Raffle, Executive DirectorErin Przelski, Interim Director of Patient

Services

2004

21.Community Health & Home Care, Inc.138 Cecil A. Malone DriveIthaca, NY 14850(607) 273-7780/vnsithaca.org

30 10 3 16 0 2 1 - -—Y

Ped., RH,SN, ST

Sue Ellen Stuart, Executive Director 1992

22.Oswego County Health Dept.70 Bunner St.Oswego, NY 13126(315) 349-3548/oswegocounty.com

28 20 6 2 0 0 0 15 Y—N

MSW, NT,Ped., RH,

SN, ST

Jiancheng Huang, Interim Director of PublicHealth

Kathryn O. Caltabiano, Director of PatientServices

1972

23.St. Elizabeth Home Care14 Foery DriveUtica, NY 13501(315) 797-9770/stemc.org

24 11 0 154 0 5 4 2 Y—N

MSW, NT,SN, ST

Mary Lourdes Lounsbury, Administrator 2001

.Oswego Health Home Care, Inc113 Schuyler St., Suite 3Fulton, NY 13069(315) 598-6806/oswegohealth.org

24 19 2 0 0 3 0 7 Y—N

MSW, NT,Ped., RH,

SN, ST

Melissa Allard, AdministratorSheila Kirby, Director of Patient Services

1991

25.Presbyterian Residential Community4300 Middle Settlement RoadNew Hartford, NY 13413(315) 235-2816/presbyterianhome.com

20 0 2 4 0 0 0 - N—Y

- Maureen Ghent, Director of Home CareServices

1994

26.CNY Infusion Services333 Butternut Drive, Suite 102DeWitt, NY 13214(315) 424-7027/cnyinfusion.com

9 9 0 0 0 0 0 - N—Y

NT, ON,Ped., SN

April Stone, CEORenee Sadowski, COO

Cara Jean, Director of Clinical Operations

1994


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