NYC Health + Hospitals has confirmed that it plans to operate Jacobi Medical Center (Jacobi) and North Central Bronx Hospital (NCBH) under one license, subject to the approval of the state Department of Health (DOH). The news could make it easier for patients to be seen a lot faster, by cutting down wait times for patient transfers between the two publicly-funded hospitals. 

“The license merger will streamline the transfer process between hospitals for patients and the credentialing process for our clinicians,” said John Doyle, spokesman for NYC Health + Hospitals, “In short, it allows us to better navigate some regulatory hurdles to better serve our patients and clinical staff.” 

Jacobi is a 457-bed teaching hospital affiliated with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Einstein), located at 1400 Pelham Pkwy. S., four miles from NCBH, a 213-bed Einstein teaching site, sister facility of Jacobi, located at 3424 Kossuth Ave. and East 210th Street in Norwood. “It is important to note that there are no bed count, staff, or service reductions as part of this effort,” Doyle added. 

On May 30, the NYC Health + Hospitals Board of Directors authorized its network to submit a Certificate of Need application to the state DOH in respect of the proposed merger. Though the wheels are in motion, the state DOH still has to approve the change to the operating license making the merger effective date still unknown. 

Doyle confirmed that staff at the two hospitals have already been shared for the last twenty years but this latest effort to operate under one license will enhance the existing model by streamlining the staff credentialing process for new doctors and reducing wait times for patients. 

This was confirmed in the merger application record provided by the state DOH which stated that the purpose of the merger is to further create a coordinated, highly integrated system with the objectives of improving quality, increasing access and lowering the costs of healthcare in the communities served by Jacobi and NCBH.  

The merger won’t cost the network anything. 

Logistically, Doyle said the change will enable hospital management to devote resources to support a planned service expansion at NCBH. The plan is to expand outpatient services and ambulatory surgery at NCBH, while trauma and other more complex procedures will be the focus at Jacobi.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.