Under the agreement, patients will receive pre- and post-transplant care at North Shore-LIJ facilities on Long Island, and have their surgeries performed at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. Mount Sinai also will provide specialized kidney disease and transplant training and education for North Shore-LIJ medical staff. "This collaboration will benefit Long Island and Queens residents who need life-saving surgery," said Michael Dowling, president and CEO of North Shore-LIJ. "Kidney transplant patients and their families won't have to expend time and energy by traveling to Manhattan repeatedly for pre- and post-surgical services. Patients will receive most services locally, while having the benefit of their surgeries performed at one of the nation's premier organ transplant centers." "We are very pleased to be partnering with North Shore-LIJ to make kidney transplant services more easily available to residents outside of Manhattan," said Kenneth L. Davis, MD, president and CEO of the Mount Sinai Medical Center and dean of Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "North Shore-LIJ has an excellent reputation, and as the largest healthcare provider on Long Island, it was a logical decision to team up with this institution."In 2003, 200 residents from Nassau, Suffolk and Queens received a kidney transplant at a New York City hospital, according to North Shore-LIJ. After a kidney transplant, patients may need to visit a physician up to two times weekly for three to six months for evaluation, laboratory tests and medication management. The new kidney transplant program will make pre- and post-op medical care more convenient for patients. North Shore-LIJ has approximately 400 patients on dialysis and it expected that eight to ten percent of these patients will be transplanted annually, according to Robert T. Mossey, MD, director of dialytic services of North Shore-LIJ."This joint program is a huge step forward to providing services locally and enhance the quality of life for patients and family members facing a kidney transplant," said Jon R. Cohen, MD, North Shore-LIJ's chief medical officer. "Medical care will be coordinated through a team of physicians and nurses who will closely monitor patients between institutions, providing a full continuum of care."The three-year agreement was signed at a ceremony at North Shore University in Manhasset, which brought together hospital leaders and medical staffs of both institutions. While the new program will likely attract patients primarily from Long Island and Queens, pre- and post-op kidney transplant services are available to residents throughout the New York metropolitan area.
