Fletcher Allen, a Vermont university hospital and medical center, serves all of
Vermont and the northern New York region. Located in Burlington, Fletcher Allen is a regional, academic healthcare center and teaching hospital in alliance with the University of Vermont.
Fletcher Allen to Serve as Mentoring Hospital For CVPH Heart Surgery Program
Immediate (January 6, 2012)
Mike Hildebran
Marketing/Public Relations
Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital
518-562-7389
Mike Noble
Marketing and Communications
Fletcher Allen Health Care
802-847-2886
PLATTSBURGH, NY – CVPH Medical Center and Fletcher Allen Health Care announced a new working relationship for the provision of heart surgery today that they say will be beneficial to area residents and opens the door for future cooperation and collaboration.
Frank Ittleman, M.D., associate vice president of operations for the University of Vermont Medical Group at Fletcher Allen Health Care and Chief of Fletcher Allen’s heart surgery program in Burlington, Vermont, has been appointed medical director of cardiothoracic surgery at CVPH, effective January 1, 2012. He will provide oversight for CVPH’s heart surgery program, including guidance for quality assurance, coordination of patient referrals when appropriate, and coordination of continuing medical education requirements for the hospital’s heart surgery program.
Anne Cahill, M.D., board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon, will continue to perform heart surgery procedures at CVPH in her role as medical director of cardiac surgery. Dr. Ittleman will remain as chief of the cardiothoracic surgery division at Fletcher Allen in Burlington. He will not be providing direct patient care in Plattsburgh.
The New York State Department of Health requires community hospitals that provide heart surgery services to have an affiliation or mentoring agreement with a major medical center. The mentoring relationship with Fletcher Allen supplants an arrangement with St. Peters Hospital in Albany that was established before surgeons performed the first open heart procedure at CVPH seven years ago. Fletcher Allen, in alliance with the University of Vermont College of Medicine is the region’s academic medical center. The overwhelming majority of patients transferred for heart services from the Plattsburgh facility go to Fletcher Allen already according to CVPH officials.
“This affiliation should positively impact quality, convenience, cost effectiveness and patient satisfaction,” Stephens Mundy, CVPH president and chief executive officer said. “Health care reform is creating an environment in which cooperation between hospitals rather than competition is imperative.”
Mundy complimented the New York State Department of Health for approving the mentoring relationship with a hospital located outside of the state. “The Department of Health recognized that because we already transfer patients to Fletcher Allen approving this contract is the right thing to do for our community and will lead to a more seamless provision of care”
In addition to his role as chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Fletcher Allen, Dr. Ittleman also serves as a professor of surgery and vice chair of outreach for the department of surgery at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. For almost forty years he has been highly respected as a cardiothoracic surgeon by his colleagues and is a recognized champion of quality improvement in cardiothoracic surgery.
He received a
medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and came
to Vermont in
1972 as a surgical resident at one of Fletcher Allen’s predecessor
organizations, the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont. He completed a residency in thoracic and cardiovascular
surgery at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals in
Cleveland before returning to Burlington to join the medical center’s clinical
faculty as a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon.
About CVPH
CVPH Medical Center is a private, not-for-profit hospital established in 1967 with the merger of Champlain Valley and Physicians Hospitals. It is the largest health provider and employer in New York’s North Country. CVPH is a partner with Adirondack Medical Center and Hudson Headwaters Health Network in the Adirondack Health Institute (AHI). AHI is involved with the Adirondack Region Medical Home, one of eight demonstration projects in the nation funded by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, and the new Medicaid Health Homes, a new approach in New York to providing enhanced care to Medicaid enrollees who have chronic conditions. CVPH established its Champlain Valley Heart Center in 2005 and has earned national acclaim for outcomes and quality.
About Fletcher Allen
Fletcher Allen Health Care, together with our partners at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, is Vermont’s academic medical center. Fletcher Allen, along with Central Vermont Medical Center, are members of Fletcher Allen Partners, established to develop a more coordinated system of care throughout the region. Fletcher Allen’s mission is to improve the health of the people in the communities it serves by integrating patient care, education and research in a caring environment. Fletcher Allen also serves as a regional referral center -- providing advanced care to approximately one million people in Vermont and northern New York -- and as a community hospital for approximately 150,000 residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties. For more information about Fletcher Allen, find us online at http://www.fletcherallen.org or on our Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blog sites at www.fletcherallen.org/socialmedia.
