New Surgical Center Provides Modern Care Close to Home

WESTMED Medical Group has come a long way towards becoming a nearly full-service hospital right in Rye's back yard on Theall Road.

In fact, the site is just what the doctors ordered, around 160 area doctors, more or less, who have spent $10.5 million to provide Rye area residents with services for just about all their medical needs without ever leaving town.

The doctors' house calls are now made virtually under one roof.

Their latest step is the recent opening of the Rye Ambulatory Surgery Center (RASC) on July 1 as an affiliate of WESTMED Medical Group on the campus of WESTMED's full-service multi-specialty medical offices at 1 Theall Rd., almost directly behind the Osborn Retirement Home.

The new cutting-edge facility is part of a national trend with the increasing complexity of medicine dictating a change in practice structure that consolidates small individual cottage style practices into lager group practices with more sophisticated infrastructures.

WESTMED is one of the county's fastest growing medical conglomerates, according to the groups two top doctors,  Dr. Simeon Schwartz, WESTMED president and medical director Dr. Barney Newman.

RASC represents the latest phase in their collective growth, they say.

RASC came in around $500,000 under budget at $4.5 million, they point out, with the new facility offering same-day surgical procedures in 12 specialty services, from breast surgery, urology and vascular medicine to orthopedic, plastic surgery and podiatry, in four modern operating rooms in a 14,490-square foot facility.

RASC filed its CON (Certificate of Need) with the state in July 2008. Eighty -five physicians each undertook 1 percent of the financing and while the facility has been open for about one month, only four surgical procedures have been performed to date (one breast augmentation, two arthroscopic knee procedures and one carpal tunnel procedure), according to male operating room nurse George Arce.

While the scalpels and equipment are at the ready, the long-ago-filed WESTMED insurance application is still pending for full Medicare approval.

"That should be coming through any day now," said Shawn Fisher, director of ambulatory surgery.

She said RASC is geared to provide services to patients who do not require a hospital-based operating suite for a surgical procedure. The center offers specialty services, including anesthesiology, OB/GYN, orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) and colorectal surgery.

"Our goal is to provide patients with the most pleasant outpatient experience available," Ms Fisher said, allowing this Patch writer to suit up in scrubs for a tour of the operating rooms with Arce, an operating room nurse and retired policeman with extensive hospital experience at Rockland County's Good Samaritan Hospital.

What we saw was state-of-the-art, from video cameras that offer surgical procedure close ups ("It can look like surgeons playing video games, only nobody is playing around," Arce said) to shadow-less overhead lights spotlighting the surgical site; lasers for innovative surgical procedures; the "Car Wash," which are huge machines for sterilizing surgical equipment; "Bed Warmers," machines to keep the blankets warm for patients on the operating tables; and something called an "Attica," bars that clang down so young patients can't fall out of bed.

From the pre and post-operaing rooms to PACU (the post-anesthesia care unit) to paperless computer record keeping, the facility had a modern feel.

"We're excited to be able to offer patients the option of full range of outpatient surgical services with minimal interruption in their lives and quality care before, during and after their procedures," according to Dr. Schwartz.

"Rye has not had this kind of service since United Hospital [in Port Chester] closed," according to Schwartz. "It's what the community deserves, and it's at the right place and location."

It's also part of what Schwartz and Newman envisioned when they opened the Westchester Medical Group (WMG) site on Theall Road in June 2007 as a new 65,000-square foot state-of-the-art medical building.

The WESTMED Medical Group's facility is similar to the Rye Ambulatory Surgery Center's 21st century updates and services, with things like modern specialty suites, an on-site laboratory, advanced radiology, ancillary CAT Scan and MRI services and electronic medical records.

After the WESTMED expansion, both Schwartz and Newman were already looking ahead to the day when they would expand their services and create the Rye Ambulatory Surgery Center.

Now that it has opened, more important tasks lie ahead, such as bolstering the center's staff and servicing more patients. A WMG screening committee is regularly interviewing candidates for surgical positions and both Schwartz and Newman said they expect to complete 4,195 procedures at RASC in the center's first year, with 4,625 expected to be completed by the third year.

For more information: www.westmedgroup.com; phone: 914-848-8700