MVHS Bulletin Aims To Squelch Rumored Aquisition

In a weekly update to employees at Mohawk Valley Health System, President and CEO Darlene Stromstad recently addressed rumors that MVHS is being acquired by Northwell Health.

The bulletin, called Darlene's Digest - which is also publicly accessible here - takes head-on talk of a pending acquisition.

''No. It's not true,'' Stromstad wrote. ''It’s rather amusing that we hear rumors virtually every week that we are being acquired by yet another health system. This week it’s Northwell Health, which is a multibillion-dollar health system based in Downstate New York. Last week it was St. Joseph’s Health in Syracuse, which is part of the national system, Trinity Health – in fact, this rumor actually stemmed from someone seeing “guys in suits” looking at the MVHS hospitals. And, other rumors have included some kind of alliance with Bassett Healthcare. Wonder who is next?''

In the 'Digest', dated July 21, Stromstad says the hospital system's focus is on internal operations and acknowledges ''the financial blow dealt by the COVID-19 pandemic, like virtually every hospital across the country.''

''While we do believe that the impact of COVID-19 will have an ever-lasting impact on health care as an industry, our focus remains on our patients and our medical community. We are not actively seeking any kind of partnership or affiliation. Our priority today is stabilizing our health system’s finances and ensuring that our patients and community members have continued access to the safe, high-quality health and medical care that they need,'' the bulletin read.

On Monday, MVHS announced it is closing urgent care operations at its Faxton Campus. In reference to the closure and the financial impact brought on by the coronavirus, officials said, ''To put this in perspective, even if we operate at 85-percent of our pre-COVID volumes, we will sustain monthly losses of between $5 and $7 million per month, or about $86 million a year. Clearly this is not sustainable.''

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