3 Hudson Valley Hospitals Under New Ownership, Changes Expected

Three Hudson Valley hospitals are now being run by a new healthcare provider that has promised "significant" changes.

On Wednesday, Northwell Health officially acquired Nuvance Health, taking over operations at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck and Putnam Hospital in Carmel. The Connecticut-based company already oversees hospitals in Danbury, New Milford, Norwalk and Sharon.

Changes Coming to Vassar Brothers, Northern Dutchess and Putnam Hospitals

After merging with Nuvance, Northwell now employs over 104,000 people at 28 hospitals, including 22,000 nurses and 13,500 providers. Michael Dowling, the president and CEO of Northwell Health, calls the partnership with Nuvance an "exciting chapter" for patients in the Hudson Valley. Dowling says the merger will take patient care and services at Vassar, Northern Dutchess and Putnam Hospital to "an even higher level".

When the deal was announced in February, Nuvance said that partnering with Northwell would "increase the opportunity to attract and retain top talent". A representative explained that physicians, nurses, and surgical and research specialists would have more growth opportunities under Northwell's ownership than they did with Nuvance.

Will it be Northwell or Nuvance?

It's unclear exactly what changes patients will immediately see now that the merger is complete, but one thing that is bound to change is the healthcare system's name. The Nuvance website features the company's old logo next to a new one for Northwell Health. The change from Mount Kisco to Caremount and then to Optum had similar transition periods where both companies' names were used until they were eventually switched over to the new owner months later.