It was a three-year surgery.
NYU Langone Health has completed a meticulous merger with Long Island Hospital and has become a high-tech care facility with expanded services, including robotics procedures.
Since 2022, Long Island Community Hospital in Patchig, which has been affiliated with the New York City-based healthcare system, has been officially rebranded as Suffolk at NYU Langone Hospital.
“We were able to really bring about the recipes we saw on other campuses within NYU heading to Suffolk County,” Dr. Mark Adler, senior vice president and chief of the hospital business, told the Post prior to the announcement.
But real change beyond the new name comes through increased efficiency and the wider range of services and procedures offered to patients, doctors said.
“When I entered the emergency room, “waiting times have been significantly reduced,” Adler said, since NYU became affiliated with the South Shore facility three years ago.
“We now average about eight minutes from when you come and look at the provider. That's a huge improvement.”
Adler also pointed out that since NYU's involvement, the infection rate has fallen by 25%, boasting an increased “continuity of care” for people receiving treatment and a wider range of providers of services that were previously outsourced.
“We were able to expand our outpatient services reach to patients who are also connected to hospitals,” Adler noted.
The newly designated facility with 11 operating rooms has also expanded its cancer services with the help of new aging techniques.
“We've gone through over 1,500 new robotics procedures,” Adler said. “Three years ago, there were no robots in the hospital.”
Regarding the surgery for doctor-guided cancer, he explained, “Robots can help guide the equipment into much smaller spaces with smaller incisions.”
For patients, it means “less bleeding, less risk of infection, and much less healing time.”
“That can even mean that many patients will return home from the hospital that day,” the doctor said.
He added that the new medical robotics have also become “bread and butter” for surgical procedures, including hernia, gallbladder and urology.
Adler said he and his team are also excited to recruit local doctors and other healthcare workers to join the expanding medical force in Patchig.
He is also keen to work with nearby high schools and college students for the program.
“I think the community has been overwhelmingly supportive of this,” Adler said of Marge. “It's true that hospital employees and staff are essentially beyond the month when this is happening.”
The operation boss said he was most impressed with the “sharp trajectory” of improvement since the system united in 2022.
“It was a hospital where there were many opportunities…we knew it could be great,” the doctor said.
“It required investment in resources and expertise.”
