John (Jack) S.T. Gallagher, who was named Interim CEO of Stony Brook University Hospital last October, will assume a new role designed to hasten the institution’s planned alliances with East End and other community hospitals, it was announced today by Richard N. Fine, Dean of the School of Medicine. In his new responsibilities as Special Consultant for Hospital Network Development, Gallagher will focus entirely on creating a network of alliances, an effort that began 18 months ago and has already resulted in partnerships with Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead and Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport.
“It is critically important that we accelerate our efforts to bring Stony Brook’s tertiary services to more people in Suffolk County,” said Dr. Fine. “Meeting the demands to serve a larger population is our highest priority and requires the establishment of additional healthcare alliances. There is no person better equipped to do that than Jack Gallagher.”
“I came to Stony Brook at a time when there was a need to transition to new leadership,” Gallagher said. “Now that transition is moving forward, the hospital is on sound financial footing, and it is time to concentrate fully on developing partnerships and a healthcare system that will vastly improve the healthcare landscape in the region. I am thankful to Stony Brook University President Shirley Strum Kenny and to Dr. Fine for bringing me to Stony Brook and for recognizing this new opportunity to really make a difference.”
Gallagher developed the North Shore-LIJ Health System into the largest hospital system in the region during the 1990s. He joined what was then North Shore University Hospital in 1971, was named President and CEO of the North Shore Health System in 1992, and became President and CEO of North Shore-LIJ upon the merger in 1997. The North Shore-LIJ system now includes 15 hospitals in Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, and Staten Island.
Gallagher’s efforts to enhance the access of Stony Brook’s tertiary services to a wider population in Suffolk County resulted in last month’s announcement of an affiliation with Eastern Long Island Hospital. The alliance allows Stony Brook and ELIH to collaborate on inpatient and outpatient clinical programs, and provide Stony Brook’s expertise to ELIH in performing clinical laboratory testing services.
Another major component of the agreement provides for administrative and corporate partnerships that will include quality and continuous quality improvement projects, supply procurement and management, and other administrative services. The two hospitals also will explore working collaboratively in developing clinical relationships, including supporting ELIH in developing a geriatric center of excellence.
That agreement followed the partnership announced in December, 2004 between Stony Brook and Peconic Bay Medical Center (formerly Central Suffolk Hospital)—the first such alliance ever by a SUNY hospital and a community hospital, made possible by legislation introduced by State Senator Ken LaValle. As part of that ground-breaking agreement, the Peconic Bay emergency room is staffed by Stony Brook physicians and Stony Brook is also making investments to enhance other services there.
Fred S. Sganga has been named Interim CEO of the hospital while the search for a successor to Gallagher takes place; the search for a new CEO was begun in April.
Sganga is also the Executive Director of the Long Island State Veterans Home (LISVH) at Stony Brook University and has held senior positions in healthcare administration for nearly 25 years, including positions in hospitals, nursing homes, and physician practice management. Among the honors he has received is the Metropolitan Health Administrators Association Award of Distinction in 2000 for his contributions to the advancement of healthcare administration in the Greater New York Area.
Since 2001, he has presided over the 350-bed LISVH, which provides skilled nursing and rehabilitative care for Long Island’s Veterans. The LISVH also administers an adult day-care program for an additional 50 Veterans or their spouses. Sganga also has served as an adjunct professor in the Healthcare Administration program at Stony Brook.
Stony Brook University Hospital is the only academic medical center on Long Island and the only tertiary care hospital in Suffolk County. With 504 beds and 4,000 employees, Stony Brook is the largest hospital in the county. The Heart Center performs the only open-heart surgery in Suffolk and the Stony Brook University Cancer Center attracts patients from throughout the region with cutting edge diagnostic and treatment facilities. Stony Brook has Long Island’s only kidney transplantation center and the nation’s first Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center. The hospital is also the regional referral center for trauma, perinatal and neonatal intensive care, burns, bone marrow and stem cell transplantation, cystic fibrosis, pediatric/adult AIDS, and is home to the Cody Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities.
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