Strength in Numbers

In 20 years, the health care infrastructure on the East End has moved beyond a potential crisis point, with individual hospitals struggling to survive, to finding strength in both numbers and relationships with larger systems. The latest evolution, though, is the most exciting: Technology is actively removing any obstacles created by the region’s unique, isolating geography.

Today, there are more options for diagnosis and treatment, more specialized services, more efficient interaction at every level of care. At least as far as access to health care, the future looks bright, and the days of a necessary trip to Manhattan after a serious diagnosis are all but over.

Last week, the Express News Group started a three-part series on the region’s medical community, seeking to highlight these positive changes. It’s telling that so many organizations have joined on as sponsors: Stony Brook Medicine, Northwell Health, NYU Langone Health and Weill Cornell Medicine all have a presence on the East End. That alone is proof of concept — four world-class health systems, all seeking to heal and keep healthy the East End’s residents. It gives patients here choices, options.

Back in 2006, there was a major movement in New York State to consolidate: The State Commission on Health Care Facilities, known as the Berger Commission, ushered in a new era that pushed community hospitals throughout Suffolk County — including Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead and what was then Southampton Hospital — to become part of a larger health care network. Eventually, both did, with Peconic Bay joining Northwell and Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s creation.

The idea was to create economies of scale, but also to provide linkage with comprehensive care, as well as providing more wellness resources than community hospitals could afford. In retrospect, the change that seemed aggressive at the time looks prescient today. It was likely to have happened anyway, and the transition was smoothed by the process.

The first installment brought together experts from several health systems to talk about the advances in diagnosing and treating women’s cancers. It’s an area where technological advances have been impactful, but one key point was that each system is powerfully motivated to achieve results, and local patients benefit from that.

Everything isn’t perfect — health care costs remain a concern, and the region’s housing costs are proving inhospitable to medical professionals along with so many professions. But there are reasons to be grateful for how health care is expanding here, and growing stronger every day.