Transforming Healthcare in Mohawk Valley
Whether it’s staffing and recruitment, acquiring new equipment and capabilities or a building project, large hospital systems in the Mohawk Valley agree on one thing — bringing world class quality of care to small towns in Upstate New York has its challenges. In this two-part project, leaders at the Mohawk Valley Health System and Bassett Healthcare Network talk about what it means to care for, and be a part of, the community.
By Jolene Cleaver
When it comes to building in the healthcare community, it’s not always mortar, brick and steel.
Many times it’s community, according to leaders at the Cooperstown-centered Bassett Healthcare Network.
The network covers a 5,600 square mile territory, across roughly eight counties — including the Mohawk Valley region — with a broad range of primary and specialty care offices.
What’s more, in addition to Bassett Medical Center, the network maintains four area community hospitals: Cobleskill Regional Hospital, O’Connor Hospital in Delhi, Little Falls Hospital and A.O. Fox Hospital in Oneonta which provide acute inpatient and emergency care.
A fifth hospital, A.O. Fox Hospital, Tri-Town Campus in Sidney, provides emergency care as well as laboratory and radiology services.
To achieve that level of coverage in rural Upstate New York, the large healthcare network takes a grassroots approach.
For physician Scott Cohen, that perspective looks like community building.
“We take care of the communities we serve … we take care of each other. …our goal is to be embedded in these communities,” he said.
Cohen, who has been at Bassett for 24 years, is the chief medical informatics and innovation officer and associate chief clinical officer (for medicine, pediatrics, primary care, emergency services, behavioral health) at Bassett.
Physician assistant Henry Knoop IV, who has been with Bassett for about seven years and currently serves as associate chief clinical officer, chief advanced practice officer and associate chief medical information officer, echoed Cohen.
“You are most likely going to see that patient again,” he added.
Knoop said delivery of medical care reaches a different level when you know a patient is in your community. … there’s a different level of connection when you know you can run into them at a school board meeting. Or the grocery store. Or a community farmers market.
Part of the building work at Bassett is in residency programs, Knoop and Cohen said.
Right now, there are two residency programs, one for internal medicine and one for general surgery.
There’s a cardiology fellowship and an affiliation with the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.
Why?
“There’s a nationwide shortage of physicians. Being involved in training the future generations of physicians is very important to Bassett,” Knoop said simply.
But getting to fill current and future openings is no small feat and takes strategic planning.
Cohen said, “In the shortage — oftentimes you have to grow your own. … (fostering local partnerships and connections leads to staff) more likely to stay.”
When it comes to residencies, Knoop and Cohen tout that completing a residency in a rural hospital network offers medical students more one-on-one time with mentors and more hands-on experience helping on procedures. Something that gets washed over in bigger metro areas.
Then there is the work of attracting seasoned medical talents to the network.
Knoop said, “You have to know your value proposition” when it comes to recruitment. “They’re not looking just for money. Most of the time they’re burnt out where they are.”
A great place to live and work
The future only holds to continue expanding the breadth of services, Bassett leaders said, emphasizing that they are always looking to find unique ways to improve recruiting.
“Really what our strength is, is our relationship with the community and how we help them and guide them through their healthcare experience. That’s really what we’re known for,” Knoop said.
In addition to doubling down on recruitment efforts, the crew at Bassett point to recent improvements in technology that benefit healthcare delivery.
In the last 18 months, the following were among improvements at Bassett:
• Bassett Healthcare Network is now utilizing advanced MRI technology at Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown. The Philips Ambition X MRI and Ambient Experience systems provide patient comfort, speed, high-quality scanning and the system’s AI-enabled technology also decreases set-up times.
• Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown opened a new hybrid operating room or “hybrid OR”, which is a state-of-the-art cardiac surgery facility that is greatly expanding options for emergency heart interventions, officials said. The new space combines the traditional operating room setting with a complete cardiac catheterization lab.
Bassett’s new 1,000 square foot hybrid operating room allows staff to perform complex procedures in one place at one time. This means patients can get diagnosed and if needed, receive surgical intervention immediately in the same space, eliminating delays and providing the best chances for full recoveries.
• Bassett Medical Center is now offering radiofrequency thyroid ablation treatment for patients with non cancerous thyroid growths. The hospital in Cooperstown is the only location in the state to offer the advanced treatment outside of New York City, officials said.
The non invasive approach to thyroid ablation is an outpatient procedure that uses an ultrasound-guided needle to deliver an electrical current to benign thyroid growths which in turn shrinks the nodules.