Ellis, St. Peter's to collaborate on major health initiative

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bethany Bump

Ellis Medicine and St. Peter’s Health Partners will collaborate on a major initiative designed to bring private physicians, health systems and providers together in an innovative organization, a hospital spokesman has confirmed.

The organization would create new ways of providing health services and be the first-of-its-kind in the region. Officials from both organizations will officially announce the partnership on Tuesday at a news conference at Ellis Hospital.

Ellis, based in Schenectady, and St. Peter’s, based in Albany, are both large players in the Capital Region health care market taking on even larger roles whenever and wherever they can. In the last several years, Ellis Medicine has taken on the services and responsibilities of three hospitals while St. Peter’s was formed through the merger of Seton Health, Northeast Health and St. Peter’s Health Care Services, the parent company of St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany.

They are the latest in a string of health care organizations announcing efforts to collaborate, a result of the changing health care landscape under President Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act.

Last month, Glens Falls and Saratoga hospitals announced they would begin exploring opportunities for collaboration. A week later, Albany insurer CDPHP and Buffalo insurer Independent Health announced they were forming a strategic alliance to share best practices and expertise, partner with physicians, invest in new technology and develop new products.