POUGHKEEPSIE – Hospital officials and doctors gathered at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie on Thursday to announce that the Nuvance Health Heart and Vascular Institute is now an affiliate of Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute. The collaboration has taken two years of research and negotiations.
Cleveland Clinic is the nation’s top-ranked heart program, according to U.S. News & World Report, and is considered by many to be the best in the world. This collaboration, according to Nuvance President and CEO Dr. John Murphy, will further elevate Nuvance’s high level of cardiovascular care in New York’s Hudson Valley and western Connecticut regions.
Dr. Murphy told Mid-Hudson News that the affiliation is an expensive one but it will benefit patients. “The generous financial support from philanthropists Gene and Nancy Beard has made this possible,” he said. The cost is estimated to be several hundred thousand dollars annually.
“This is not competitive – this is collaborative,” Murphy said of the affiliation. “We want to be a world-class cardiac care center and this is an opportunity to do just that.”
“This clinical affiliation will give us access to the best practices that have helped Cleveland Clinic achieve U.S. News & World Report’s No. 1 ranking for cardiology and heart surgery for the past 27 consecutive years,” said Dr. Mark Warshofsky, senior vice president and chairman of the Nuvance Health Heart and Vascular Institute.
The Ohio-based Cleveland Clinic will work with clinicians and multidisciplinary teams at three Nuvance Health hospitals, including Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, along with the Danbury and Norwalk Hospitals in Connecticut. Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute will share clinical best practices for patient care, giving Nuvance Health patients access to their expertise, including the latest technologies and innovations in heart care.
This makes the Nuvance Health Heart and Vascular Institute an exclusive Cleveland Clinic Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute affiliate in New York’s Hudson Valley and Western Connecticut.
“Management of heart disease is complex, but we can advance the treatment of cardiovascular disease to benefit our communities by working together on programs like this,” said Lars Svensson, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute. “Our affiliation with Nuvance Health will allow for sharing of best practices while working together to ensure the highest quality care to Nuvance’s patients.”
The affiliation is mutually beneficial and will enhance opportunities to provide new treatments and therapies to patients, as well as explore cutting-edge technologies and techniques in cardiac and vascular care that will accelerate advances in treatments. It also gives Nuvance the opportunity to reduce the cost of care by using the purchasing power of Cleveland Clinic for buying necessary supplies such as heart stents.
The Cleveland Clinic Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute’s affiliate program was launched in 2003. The affiliate network includes 14 hospitals across the country, with the addition of the three Nuvance Health hospitals. As affiliates, the Nuvance Heart and Vascular Institute and Cleveland Clinic remain independent, with no changes in control of physicians or staff.
