CareMount, Northwell Health Seek Lower Health Care Costs Together

CHAPPAQUA, NY — CareMount Medical, the largest independent medical group in New York State, has made a clinical affiliation agreement with Northwell Health, New York State’s largest health system. Officials said the two were looking for operational efficiencies, particularly in their clinics and ambulatory care services.

Beginning Jan. 1, Northwell and CareMount "will pursue innovative arrangements such as clinical integration initiatives and ambulatory collaborative activities as well as service agreements all designed to generate operational efficiencies consistent with the mission of providing quality care to patients.

"Both organizations contemplate utilizing their existing population health infrastructures to provide additional resources to patients as well as preventative medicine and cost-effective treatment," officials of the two organizations said in the announcement.

Chappaqua, NY-based CareMount is a physician-owned multi-specialty medical practice with 45 locations in the Hudson Valley and Manhattan, and with over 600 physicians and advanced practice providers in more than 40 specialties. In addition, CareMount owns and operates urgent care centers, clinical laboratories and radiology services, as well as endoscopy suites and infusion suites.

"This new collaboration with Northwell represents a significant strategic step in CareMount’s focus to deliver coordinated, high quality care that improves the patient’s experience and health while lowering overall health care costs,” said Scott D. Hayworth, MD, FACOG, CareMount president and chief executive officer.

CareMount (originally the Mount Kisco Medical Group) has had a long-standing relationship with Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, with many CareMount physicians serving in clinical leadership roles there.

Northern Westchester Hospital became a member of Northwell Health (then called the North Shore-LIJ Health System) in 2014.

Under the new agreement, CareMount clinicians will obtain clinical faculty appointments at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.

CareMount Medical patients will have access to a range of Northwell Health facilities, expertise and services.

Northwell operates about 750 outpatient facilities, including over 200 primary care practices, and 23 hospitals, including Northern Westchester, Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow and Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.

“We’re extraordinarily pleased to be taking this important next step in our relationship with CareMount, which has a well-earned reputation for delivering high-quality care and optimizing the patient experience,” said Michael J. Dowling, president and chief executive officer at Northwell. “We look forward to pursuing mutually beneficial opportunities that will further enhance patient care."

Both Northwell and CareMount plan to use the clinical affiliation agreement to pursue additional innovative arrangements in the New York City and Westchester markets.