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SYRACUSE--Three and a half months after Community General Hospital ended discussions on a possible merger with Crouse Hospital, Crouse says it continues focusing on its cost-reduction goals as a "free-standing institution."
That's according to Dr. Paul Kronenberg, the CEO of Crouse Hospital, who discussed the hospital's future plans in a conversation with The Central New York Business Journal on Aug. 27.
Crouse had spent much of the early part of 2010 in discussions with Community General until the State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University offered another proposal
SUNY Upstate announced June 29 that the systems board of trustees
would back the medical school's pursuit of acquiring Community General.
Crouse and Community General had started discussions in mid-2009 about how each institution would be poised to deal with elements of health-care reform.
The conversations with Community General involved consultants to help each hospital see how they could align services between the two organizations, according to Kronenberg.
Then, in mid-May of this year, Community General decided to pursue discussions with SUNY Upstate.
"So, as of the date of that termination [May 18], there have been no further discussions between Crouse and Community General [Hospital] relating to consolidation, merger," Kronenberg says.