Groundbreaking on New Health Center Begins Next Month

Construction will soon begin on a new health center in Southampton, which will offer primary and preventative medical and dental services for 3,500 residents on the East End.

The Hudson River Health Care, a not-for-profit, federally qualified health care system that offers a range of medical services at its facilities throughout New York, said on Thursday that it will begin construction on The Kraus Family Health Center of the Hamptons at Southampton Hospital, on Oct. 3.

“This new facility will be an outstanding addition to our health care system, and will further enhance our ability to provide everyone on the South Fork with comprehensive medical and dental care, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay,” Anne Kauffman Nolon, the president and CEO of HRHCare, said in a statement. “We would specifically like to thank our partners, Southampton Hospital and Stony Brook University Medical Center, which have been instrumental in this process, and we are excited to build out our unique teaching program together.”

In May, County Executive Steve Bellone announced a plan to save money by consolidating the Suffolk County Health Center at East Hampton and the Kraus Family Health Center at Southampton, both operated by county, into one federally qualified health center in Southampton Village. Federally qualified health centers are Medicare “safety net” providers designed to enhance primary care in underserved communities.

A family practice, women’s health services and dental services will all be provided at the new state-of-the-art facility at the Southampton Hospital annex. It will be operated in partnership between the county, Southampton Hospital, Stony Brook University and Hudson River HealthCare.

The HRHCare Kraus Family Health Center is expected to open in early 2014.

The county said the plan would save taxpayers $3.8 million over five years.

The Southampton Hospital annex, located in an office park at the end of Meeting House Lane, will undergo a renovation to accommodate the new use and meet federally qualified health center standards. The county will lay out funds for the conversion, but were said to 100 percent reimbursed through a state grant awarded back in 2008. Southampton Hospital has committed $700,000 toward the renovation through a state Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law grant.

"This represents a very unique opportunity to bring several partners together to make a major improvement in availability of primary care services and to create a new teaching location to train future physicians for our East End communities," Southampton Hospital President and CEO Robert Chaloner said back in May.

Founded in 1975 to provide care to the medically underserved population of Peekskill, N.Y., Hudson River HealthCare now includes 24 health centers and mobile health systems serving nearly 100,000. There are two health centers on Long Island, in Coram and Greenport.