Northwell Health President and CEO Michael J. Dowling and Mather Hospital President Kenneth Roberts signed an agreement today for Mather to become a full member of the health system.
The merger was approved in late November by both the Mather Board of Directors and by the Northwell Health Board of Trustees, and takes effect in January.
Mather, which is located in Port Jefferson, becomes Northwell’s 23rd hospital and its fifth in Suffolk County, in addition to Huntington Hospital, Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead and South Oaks Hospital in Amityville.
“We’re thrilled to have Mather as part of the Northwell Health family,” Dowling said. “Mather is a highly respected community teaching hospital with a long and proud history of delivering exceptional care to residents of Suffolk County’s north shore. We’re committed to working collaboratively with Mather to strengthen and expand its clinical services, ensuring that the hospital will continue to fulfill its mission as a full-service community hospital.”
“This month Mather Hospital celebrates 88 years of service to our community. So it is auspicious that at this time Mather officially becomes a member hospital of Northwell Health. This is a once-in-a-century event that fortifies us for future growth,” Roberts said.
“While we are now a member of one of the country’s premier health systems, our mission remains the same – to provide our community care to the best of our ability, showing compassion and respect and treating each patient in the manner we would wish for our loved ones.”
In July, Roberts and Chairman Kenneth Jacoppi signed a letter of intent to join Northwell as part of a long-term strategy to ensure advanced health care for Mather’s communities and the future growth of the hospital.
Over the next five months, representatives from Mather and Northwell were involved in due-diligence discussions and negotiated final terms of the agreement.
As a community teaching hospital, Mather provides state-of-the-art care in bariatrics, neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology, robotic surgery, breast health, mental health and emergency services.
It also operates the advanced radiosurgery program Precision CyberKnife of New York. Mather’s Graduate Medical Education program offers residencies in internal medicine, psychiatry, radiology and transitional year.
Mather Hospital has more than 2,600 employees and has more than 600 staff and affiliated physicians.
The hospital cared for more than 12,500 inpatients and over 40,000 emergency patients last year. Underscoring its clinical expertise, Mather physicians performed more than 3,800 inpatient surgeries and 10,500 outpatient surgeries.
As part of an extensive search process, Mather Hospital had held discussions with several health systems regarding possible affiliation since early 2016.
Mather had been one of only two hospitals on Long Island that had not joined or announced plans to join a larger system.
