Hudson River HealthCare, Inc.

Grant Status

In Progress

Project Title

Preserving Community Based Primary Care & Residency Training in Yonkers

Award Amount

$150,000

Location

Peekskill

Website

http://www.hrhcare.org/index.html

Date Awarded

July 7, 2010

The City of Yonkers is a medically isolated community with an inadequate primary care infrastructure. As a result of financial stresses, Saint Joseph’s Hospital planned to close its Family Health Center, which would have created an immediate primary care access problem in Yonkers. With NYSHealth support, Hudson River HealthCare, Inc. (HRHCare) will take over and operate the St. Joseph’s Family Health Center and Residency program.

HRHCare has a long history of acquiring, transitioning, and successfully operating distressed clinics. Funds will be used to support the transition team to implement a clinically and fiscally stable transfer of the Family Health Center, a key access point for an additional 8,500 Yonkers residents, as well as the training site for the Family Practice Residency Program. The integration of the residency program will allow HRHCare to maintain community-based medical residents as a resource for primary care service provision.

Designation of the Family Health Center site as a federally qualified health center (FQHC) will enable it to receive higher reimbursement rates and achieve sustainability. This transition is expected to yield approximately $1 million in annual savings for the hospital. Once the transition is complete, there is a high probability that HRHCare will be able to sustain the clinics through increased public insurance reimbursements as a result of its FQHC status.