Patrick Green is CEO of Connecticut-based L+M Healthcare, which operates Westerly Hospital along with Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New Haven, Conn.
Green discusses L+M’s affiliation with Yale New Haven Health and what it means for Westerly Hospital, especially now that the union recently received final approval from the Conn. Office of Healthcare Access. L+M acquired Westerly Hospital in 2013.
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PBN: Now that the Conn. Office of Healthcare Access completed its fifth and final hearing in December in compliance with conditions for L+M Healthcare’s affiliation with Yale New Haven Health, what does this mean for Westerly Hospital?
GREEN: Uniting with Yale New Haven Health has proven to be beneficial to our organization and the communities we serve in countless ways. This includes supporting our staff and physician partners who have dedicated their careers to Westerly Hospital, the recruitment of additional world-class physicians, growing the number of employees to support the growth in patient services, renovating existing facilities and adding new clinical services. The first five years of our affiliation has laid the groundwork for the future.
PBN: What sort of growth in services and staff took place at Westerly Hospital when L+M Healthcare became a member of Yale New Haven Health in 2016?
GREEN: More than $78 million has been invested at Westerly Hospital since the affiliation with Yale New Haven Health. This includes investments in people, clinical services and technology. Westerly Hospital continues to be the major employer in the town and we are very proud of our relationship with our community. We are committed to providing expert clinical care close to home where people work, live and play.
PBN: How has the hospital benefitted in terms of investments as a result of L+M’s affiliation with Yale New Haven Health?
GREEN: The patients at Westerly Hospital have benefited in numerous ways from the affiliation with Yale New Haven Health. For instance, the hospital opened a 6,500-square-foot Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Center – the first Smilow Cancer Care Center in Rhode Island. This means that our cancer patients can now get their care in the community where they live.
To support the treatment needs of our Smilow patients, Yale New Haven Health made a $4 million investment in the Westerly Hospital pharmacy. This state-of-the-art facility dispenses not only lifesaving chemotherapy drugs but also medications for our entire patient population, including novel treatments for our COVID-19 patients over the past two years.
In addition to the cancer care center, we opened a new 18-bed geriatric psychiatric unit that was the result of identifying a need in our community and taking action to provide care for our most vulnerable citizens.
We recently expanded urology services at Westerly Hospital, adding a robotic surgical system that offers patients minimally invasive surgical care. The device is also being used across multiple surgical disciplines.
We have added providers in other key areas, including emergency medicine and orthopedics, resulting in the ability to care for more patients in the community closer to home.
PBN: Should we be on the lookout for any upcoming plans or projects at Westerly Hospital?
GREEN: We are committed to transforming Westerly Hospital into a first-class organization. We have a solid plan to revitalize the facility and to make sure the facility reflects the extraordinary clinical care that’s taking place there every day.
PBN: Does L+M have its eye on moving farther into Rhode Island and offering services in areas outside of Westerly?
GREEN: We recently expanded our footprint outside of Westerly with the opening of a urology office in Warwick. We continue to assess the services our patients want and need and evaluate how we can best serve our community.
Our priority is to focus our efforts on rebounding from the devastation of the pandemic and to further strengthen operations on the hospital campus so that we create a lasting future to provide extraordinary care for the people of the Westerly community. We are very excited about our future.
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN contributing writer.
