Boca Raton Regional Hospital, North Shore-Lij Health System Announce Affiliation Agreement

Officials at Boca Raton Regional Hospital and North Shore-LIJ Health System today announced an affiliation agree ment aimed at creating synergistic opportunities in such areas as patient care, clinical program development and research and education in the health sciences. The agreement has an initial three-year term.

North Shore-LIJ Health System is the largest integrated healthcare network in the state of New York and one of the nation’s largest healthcare systems, with net annual revenue of more than $7 billion. The health system has 16 member hospitals and nearly 400 ambulatory physician practices throughout the New York metropolitan area, affiliations with more than 9,400 physicians and a total workforce of more than 47,000 – the largest private employer in New York. North Shore-LIJ also has its own medical school (the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine) and research enterprise (The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research).

“This is a very exciting and important development for Boca Raton Regional Hospital,” said Jerry Fedele, President and CEO. “We are thrilled to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with one of the most accomplished health systems in the country.”

This unique agreement between independent healthcare systems operating in different states provides substantial value to the respective hospitals, affiliated physicians and patients in both New York and Florida.

“Our affiliation will permit both organizations to collaborate and share best practices to better meet the healthcare needs of the populations we serve, including many patients who live in the New York area and spend the winter months in Palm Beach and Broward counties,” said Michael J. Dowling, North Shore-LIJ’s President and CEO. “Establishing this new relationship will lead to better continuity of care for patients who rely on both providers for their care. From the continuity and quality of care perspective alone, we had an excellent foundation for establishing a relationship.”

Both Fedele and Dowling emphasized that discussions between the organizations identified a number of opportunities for additional collaboration.

“While our preliminary talks were rooted in continuity of care, we soon discovered a joint desire to explore ways that we could learn from each other,” said Fedele. “The depth and experience of a system such as North Shore-LIJ certainly presents outstanding advantages to us and will be important as healthcare migrates to new paradigms of care that are focused on population health management, wellness and new risk and performance-based payment structures.”

Dowling stressed that the quality of programs and services at Boca Regional was also a determining factor for North Shore-LIJ to structure an affiliation. “It was essential for us to partner with an organization that shares our level of commitment to patient care. By any metric, be it patient safety, quality of care or national accolades for clinical excellence, Boca Regional is exceptional,” he said. “When you couple that with its programmatic vibrancy and its regional leadership in such areas as heart and cancer care, women’s health and now the neurosciences, this is a hospital that we can recommend to our patients with great confidence and enthusiasm.”

Fedele emphasized that the affiliation with North Shore-LIJ was indicative of Boca Regional’s ongoing efforts to not only respond to industry challenges, but also to strengthen itself through creative relationships. The Hospital’s Board of Trustees recently completed a strategic planning process that called for Boca Regional to remain an independent, not-for-profit hospital while seeking partnerships that would strengthen its ability to thrive and provide the best care for its patients in an evolving healthcare environment.

According to the affiliation agreement, both Boca Raton Regional Hospital and North Shore-LIJ will maintain their respective corporate independence and local autonomy.

“We are most enthused with this agreement,” said Boca Regional Board Chair, Christine E. Lynn. “It is indicative of both the Board and management’s desire to seek out new and better ways to serve our community while remaining true to our mission and heritage. Our new relationship with North Shore-LIJ compliments that goal perfectly.”

“North Shore-LIJ is thrilled to develop this formal affiliation with a hospital outside of New York that will focus principally on clinical care programming,” said Richard D. Goldstein, Chair of the North Shore-LIJ Board of Trustees. “Working with an extraordinary partner like Boca Raton Regional Hospital, we will ensure that thousands of New Yorkers and Floridians with homes in both states will be able to access the coordinated care they need to stay healthy.”