The four hospitals and visiting nurses share a common visual identity based on the Albany Med Health System name. The brand also communicates joint expansion of adult and pediatric specialties, from hospitals to community-based settings and homes.

McKenna, who will serve as president and CEO of Albany Med Health System, said: “We are his one team of 16,000 professionals ready to care for her 3 million people in the region.”

The system consists of 1,520 beds, approximately 100 specialties, 800 physicians, and 125 locations, including the region’s only children’s hospital, visiting nurses, Albany College of Medicine, and a biomedical research company.

“Columbia Memorial Health is proud of the progress we have made in building the system,” said Jay P. Kahalan, President and CEO of CMH. “By connecting our services and clinicians means better care coordination for patients.”

An awareness campaign with the tagline “With You for Everything,” unveiled at the press conference, symbolizes the moment when life and medicine intersect, McKenna said. The hospital name will remain the same, and outdoor signs showing the switch to the system will begin in 2023.

System Hospital enhances connectivity through centralized electronic medical records. With the introduction of Epic used system-wide, the entire patient health story, with security and accuracy, will be accessible to every clinician they see within the system.

Jill Johnson Vancoolen, president and CEO of Saratoga Hospital, said:

The formation of the Albany Med Health System comes as local and national health care providers work more closely together and face increasing financial and staffing pressures.

“A record number of nurses and other staff members have left the healthcare industry due to the ‘big resignations’ spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing non-profit hospitals to turn to for-profit staffing agencies. “We had a lot of fun,” said McKenna. “These institutions have increased hourly wages by 213% compared to pre-pandemic levels in January 2019, and hospitals operating on historically thin financial margins are suffering significant financial losses. .”

The expanded partnership will make Albany Med Health System the largest and only municipal health system and the largest private employer in the region, McKenna said.

“With our own leadership in our hometown, all decisions are made here, not elsewhere,” he said. “Our patients have guided our growth. We will continue to be the team you trust.”

Albany Medical Center recently laid off 37 positions as part of a restructuring plan that it expects to grow in future earnings. Albany Med Health System spokesman Matt Markham said no layoffs or job cuts are expected at Columbia Memorial Health as part of the partnership.