Hospital plans new primary care location along Thruway to serve residents — and truckers

Hospital plans new primary care location along Thruway to serve residents — and truckers

Here’s a story from the Albany Business Review…

The community hospital in Gloversville is looking to open its 10th outpatient location, Nathan Littauer Hospital & Nursing Home CEO Laurence E. Kelly said.
The hospital is seeking state approval to build a $2.2 million extension clinic in Fonda, a small village about 15 minutes west of Amsterdam. There is a lack of health care services in the area and Montgomery County has a poverty rate for children of about 23 percent, Kelly said.
“We looked at Fonda as a place that’s underserved that has a lot of health care need, so we thought this would be a great place to meet that community need,” Kelly said.
Hospitals are working to get services closer to patients as government payers push for care in lower cost settings.
Kelly also said the location would be ideal to provide services for truckers traveling along the Thruway or going northward to a distribution center in Johnstown. About 800 trucks each day will drive by the location on Main Street in Fonda, he said.
Kelly said he’s planning to create an app so truck drivers could set up an appointment ahead of time for a check-up or an acute problem.
“These guys and women don’t get good health care because they’re on the road a lot,” Kelly said.
The clinic would be fairly close to St. Mary’s Healthcare in Amsterdam, which is a larger system providing services in Fulton and Montgomery counties that Nathan Littauer competes with. St. Mary’s has 130 beds and opened a new $17 million outpatient pavilion last month.
While Kelly said the clinic would likely see a high volume of Medicaid patients, he said the hospital would have adult services, radiology and an obstetrician there. Referrals for testing, deliveries of babies and other services to the hospital would also drive revenue from the location.
“We don’t think we’re going to lose money, we think we can break even or do a little better,” Kelly said.
Kelly said the plan for a clinic is exploratory pending state approval. He said current plans call for a 5,400 square foot building with 30 parking spaces and that the land at 46-50 Main St. in Fonda is under contract for the hospital to purchase.
The clinic would be staffed with 13 new full time employees, including two new doctors, Kelly said.

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