By GREGORY ZELLER //
It’s only Tuesday, but Northwell Health has already had a very busy week, featuring two new accreditations – including a first-of-its-kind vascular/endovascular honor – and a national post for a Northwell physician.
The New Hyde Park-based health system announced Monday that Harris Nagler, a urologist at Northwell Health’s Lake Success-based Smith Institute for Urology, has been named president of the American Urological Association’s Urology Care Foundation Board.
Later Monday, Northwell Health announced that the comprehensive cell-transplant program at New Hyde Park’s Cohen Children’s Medical Center has successfully completed the triannual accreditation renewal required by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy, a Nebraska-based nonprofit watchdog that establishes standards for high-quality medical and laboratory practices related to cellular treatments.
Then, on Tuesday, the health system dropped more good news: The Surgical Review Corp. – an independent, internationally recognized surgical-care review board based in North Carolina – has granted Center of Excellence accreditation for Quality Surgical Care in an Outpatient Setting to Northwell Health’s Lake Success-based Endovascular and Vascular Center.
That accreditation marks the first time a program of the center’s kind has earned the corporation’s Center of Excellence designation – a direct result of “our quality outcomes and commitment to the highest level of patient care,” according to Omid Rahmani, the Endovascular and Vascular Center’s medical director.
The Surgical Review Corp.’s rigorous (and voluntary) accreditation process evaluates 10 major areas of endovascular and vascular surgical care, focusing on continuously improving patient safety and outcomes.
Since it opened in 2013, Northwell Health’s endovascular/vascular facility has performed more than 8,000 procedures, including maintenance and repairs for hemodialysis patients, peripheral artery disease diagnosis and treatment and the placement and management of chemotherapy ports, among other ambulatory services.
“Our program is unique in that we collaborate with interventional radiology, oncology and nephrology physicians and have full-time anesthesiologists on staff,” Rahmani said Tuesday, adding the diverse staff “ensure(s) the highest level of safety and expert pain management for our patients.”
Similar patient-focused attributes were noted in the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy’s decision to re-up Cohen Children’s Medical Center’s cell-transplant accreditation.
Harris Nagler: Ur the man.
The renewal demonstrates “excellent clinical practices that maximize the effectiveness of our transplants while also ensuring the wellbeing of our young patients,” according to Joel Brochstein, the associate chief of cellular therapy in Cohen Children’s Division of Hematology/Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation.
The accreditation renewal applies to all Cohen Children’s services and facilities inspected by FACT reviewers, including pediatric allogeneic and autologous hematopoietic progenitor cell transplantation and marrow and peripheral blood-product collection. These programs and others have “made possible hundreds of successful stem cell transplants for a wide variety of malignant and nonmalignant disorders,” according to Northwell Health.
“FACT accreditation hinges upon demonstrating excellent clinical practices,” Brochstein added. “Successful accreditation demands a team effort that involves physicians, nurses, technologists, social workers, physical therapists and child-life therapists.
“I am very proud of all of them.”
Also swelling a bit is Nagler, the Smith Institute of Urology doctor chosen to head the Urology Care Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Nagler – who is slated to succeed Richard Memo, head of the Maryland-based UCF since 2014, on Jan. 1 – is an active UCF member known for driving the foundation’s outreach and development efforts.
The new president – who maintains practices in Great Neck and Manhattan focused on male infertility, erectile dysfunction and general urology and is a professor of urology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell – said he was “honored to continue my commitment to the foundation and its mission in this new role.”
Repeatedly recognized in “best doctor” and “super doctor” listings published by New York Magazine and The New York Times, among others, Nagler has been noted in Becker’s Hospital Review as one of “The 130 Nonprofit Hospital Leaders to Know” and “The 300 Hospital and Health System Leaders to Know.”
He’s also served on director’s boards at many healthcare organizations, including the Society for the Study of Male Reproduction and the AUA’s New York Section, and is a past president of New York City’s Beth Israel Medical Center, among other executive-level roles.
“Supporting and improving the prevention, detection and treatment of urological conditions and disease through research and education is part of the fabric of our profession,” Nagler said Monday. “Continuing to do it here, with an organization of such stature and trustworthiness, remains a privilege.”
