Hospital merger in Troy seen as a success

About six months ago, he became president and CEO of Seton Health, the corporation formed when St. Mary's and Leonard Hospitals in Troy merged in 1994.

Before the merger, the CEO said, there was a lot of duplication of expensive services by the two hospitals (Troy is also home to Samaritan Hospital). Keeping operating rooms open around the clock and having administrations for each hospital only scratched the surface of the ways the pair served the same needs.

Under pressure

Beginning in the late 1980s, he explained, healthcare organizations have seen a decrease in the need for hospital beds. Surgery for everything from hernias to cataracts is now done on an outpatient basis, and patients who used to spend 10 days in the hospital now stay an average of half that time.

With those concerns in mind, a merger between St. Mary's and Leonard Hospitals became a financially sound move.

Lawsuit

Originally, said Dr. Donovan, Seton Health hoped to preserve the rich history of St. Mary's Hospital, which was founded in 1850, and Leonard, founded in 1893. But 18 months after the pair merged, Leonard closed.

With the growing need for outpatient care, "we are very much an ambulatory-driven organization," Dr. Donovan explained, adding that closing one hospital allowed Seton Health to focus its funds on maintaining one building instead of two.

Growing pains

"Life is full of lots of challenges," Dr. Donovan said. While the CEO remembered his father and grandfather working for the same companies all their lives, "this is my fifth or sixth job change.

"People in the job market now are going to have to deal with the fact that there are going to be changes. You can blame the merger, but the fact is that technology has changed in health care."

Big picture

He boasted that "we've also added services St. Mary's and Leonard were not able to do on their own," from a new obstetrics unit to educational services for the community. (The latter have included classes on stress management and breast health; a series on menopause is slated for the future.) The "St. Mary's campus," as the hospital is known to staff, also has a new Intensive Care Unit.

"The fact that we are able to continue to be a profitable organization and reinvest our earnings back into our healthcare system for the benefit of the community is an advantage," Dr. Donovan stated.

Outpatient services are a big part of Seton Health's focus, and Dr. Donovan said St. Mary's and Leonard could not have accomplished as much as they have as one entity if they had continued to compete against each other. He cited as an example the opening of "Seton Health for Women," which offers mammography, breast biopsies, bone densitometry, ultrasounds and urinary incontinence treatment; and the development of an incontinence center and a wound center.

Other merger

But as Seton Health experienced, mergers between Catholic and secular hospitals can cause some concerns to abortion advocates. Groups like "Save Our Services" have already protested the proposed agreement between Nathan Littauer and St. Mary's, which would no longer allow Nathan Littauer to perform abortions.

Dr. Donovan commented: "It's often portrayed as `one-issue,' and health care is clearly a lot larger than one issue. It has to do with trying to meet the needs of the community and anticipate them. The shame is that people tend to focus [on] the Catholic provider [as] a one-issue institution."

In the case of Seton Health, he said, the merger resulted in $4.25 million returning to the community last year. Seton Health also now covers an area from Clifton Park and Stillwater to Schodack.

If two hospitals find that their missions are compatible and the demand for their services is adequate, Dr. Donovan applauds the idea of a merger. Catholic hospitals operate in both a religious and economic environment, he said, and both must be served.

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