{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Radio Chatskill","title":"Garnet Health Says Planned Montefiore Affiliation Will Strengthen Local Care, Preserve Services","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1075,"description":"Garnet Health has signed a letter of intent to pursue an affiliation with Montefiore Health System, a move leaders say will help sustain and strengthen healthcare services in Sullivan and Orange counties amid financial pressures facing hospitals nationwide.“If you look at what’s happened across the country, most smaller hospitals have already aligned with larger health systems,” said Garnet Health CEO Jerry Dunlevy. “The smaller health systems and the smaller hospitals standing alone are becoming less and less of a factor.”Dunlevy said Garnet Health — despite a strong market share — faces the same economic pressures as many community hospitals, including rising labor and supply costs, inflation, and stagnant or declining reimbursements.“You couple that with an increased supply cost — things like pharmaceuticals, energy, electricity or gas — and then general inflation was very, very challenging,” he said. “And then there’s the issue of reimbursement, where in some cases it’s been declining or stagnant.”He said the aging population is also affecting hospitals’ bottom lines as more patients move from commercial insurance to Medicare, which reimburses at lower rates.Shared Services and Clinical StrengthDunlevy said affiliating with a larger health system will allow Garnet to benefit from “shared services” such as information technology, finance, human resources, and procurement — creating “economies of scale” and stronger negotiating power for contracts.He also highlighted Montefiore’s clinical expertise as a major benefit. “Montefiore offers really tertiary clinical expertise that will help us further develop, grow, and expand our service lines,” Dunlevy said. “A great example of that would be in cardiology and our cardiac surgery program at the Middletown campus.”He emphasized that this agreement is an affiliation, not a merger or acquisition. “There’s been no sale. There’s been no purchase of our organization or of our assets,” Dunlevy said. “Healthcare in New...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/q7XXsnSXT_u4mZLCn3chUorwDmUD_kWiB272D6emB18/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS80N2Uy/OGY5MWUwZThkYTEw/NDVkZGM2ZGZkZDIw/ZjliOS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}