St. Elizabeth Medical Center and Faxton St. Luke's Healthcare Decide Not To Merge
By: Rachel Polansky
Updated: September 4, 2012
There's some big news in Central New York's medical world. After meeting
for the past year to explore a merger between St. Elizabeth Medical
Center and Faxton St. Luke's Healthcare, the two have decided not to
become one. The vice president of St. Elizabeth's Medical Center says
there's a number of reasons a merger doesn't make sense at the moment.
"Well the primary reason why we decided the 2 organizations will not merge is to maintain the individual identities of the 2 facilities including the fact that St. Elizabeth Medical Center will maintain its Catholic identity. And in order to do so, the 2 facilities probably cannot merge since Faxton St. Luke's will not become a Catholic facility," says Robert Scholefield, Vice President of St. Elizabeth's Medical Center.
Scholefield says the organizations are hoping to come up with a Memorandum of Understanding that will create an affiliation between the two hospitals. He says an agreement will provide greater service for the community, but the development of such a model will take time.
"Well the primary reason why we decided the 2 organizations will not merge is to maintain the individual identities of the 2 facilities including the fact that St. Elizabeth Medical Center will maintain its Catholic identity. And in order to do so, the 2 facilities probably cannot merge since Faxton St. Luke's will not become a Catholic facility," says Robert Scholefield, Vice President of St. Elizabeth's Medical Center.
Scholefield says the organizations are hoping to come up with a Memorandum of Understanding that will create an affiliation between the two hospitals. He says an agreement will provide greater service for the community, but the development of such a model will take time.
