New York State’s largest healthcare provider keeps getting larger, adding a busy surgical center to its satellite roster.
Northwell Health has acquired a majority stake in the Suffolk Surgery Center, a private, multi-specialty outpatient practice in Shirley. A joint ownership agreement gives the New Hyde Park-based health system a 70 percent stake, with the remainder split among the freestanding facility’s nine existing physician-owners.
David Battinelli: More options for Northwell patients.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But the acquisition – marking the seventh independent surgical center Northwell Health has partnered with – gives the health system control of an 8,500-square-foot center specializing in general, ophthalmologic, orthopedic, pain-management and a range of other surgeries.
The Suffolk Surgery Center boasts four pre-operative beds, four operating rooms and an eight-bed post-anesthesia care unit. Forty surgeons specializing in everything from gastroenterology to colorectal surgeries are credentialed to perform there and treat roughly 7,000 patients annually, according to Northwell Health.
With the health system – New York State’s largest private employer, with more than 61,000 employees – planning to open nearly 20 satellite surgical centers throughout New York, the acquisition in Shirley creates new treatment options for health system members throughout the New York metropolitan area, according to Senior Vice President David Battinelli, Northwell’s chief medical officer.
“The partnership with the Suffolk Surgery Center is another clear example of how we’re partnering with physicians to strengthen patient-centered care in communities we serve,” Battinelli said Tuesday. “An ambulatory surgery facility offering a diverse spectrum of clinical expertise gives our patients additional options for superb medical care.”
Surgeon John Passarelli, managing partner of Suffolk Surgery Center, said the 16-year-old center was pleased to enter “a joint venture partnership with the largest health system on Long Island.”
“We look forward to working with Northwell Health in continuing to improve upon quality and expand access to outpatient ambulatory surgical procedures,” Passarelli said in a statement.
The Suffolk Surgery Center is Northwell Health’s fifth satellite surgical facility on Long Island, joining the Garden City SurgiCenter, the Garden City-based Endoscopy Center of Long Island, the Digestive Health Center of Huntington and the South Shore Surgery Center in Bay Shore.
The health system has also formed “ambulatory surgery joint venture partnerships” with SurgiCare of Manhattan and the Richmond Pain Management Ambulatory Surgical Center on Staten Island.
