Upstate University Hospital
/ file photo
SYRACUSE -- SUNY Upstate Medical University is now one step closer to turning two hospitals into one.
The hospital announced Thursday it has formally asked the state for permission to acquire Community General Hospital. The hospital has submitted a Certificate of Need with the New York State Department of Health.
Dr. John McCabe, Upstate's Chief Executive Officer, says aquiring Community General will almost double the number of beds the hospital can use and help them serve more people in the community.
"This gives Upstate Medical University a bigger platform for teaching, for research and for clinical care. If you're in an outlying community - Oswego, Oneida - and you need services that the hospital doesn't provide that we do here at the medical center, it will make it easier for you to come here because we will have more capacity," he says.
As for the long term future of Community General's employees, Upstate says they have no plan to lay off anyone once the two hospitals merge.
"We need that workforce there to help us keep Community General in business and build it over time," he says.
If all goes as planned, University Hospital says it expects to have approval from the state to aquire Communtiy General in July. Upstate says the entire process of combining the two hospitals into one could take as long as two years.
