Health

Catholic Health opens outpatient health care facility in Riverhead

Catholic Health has opened a $7.2 million ambulatory care facility in Riverhead that will employ some 30 workers.

The Rockville Centre-based health system opened the 15,600-square-foot Catholic Health Ambulatory Care center at Riverhead on Route 58 late last month. Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard hailed the opening, saying it will address an unmet need across the region.

A release from Catholic Health said the facility — its local address is 800 Old Country Road — will offer ambulatory care services across the East End, including primary care and specialty services.

Specialty care services include “neurosurgery and spine, pediatric orthopedics and spine, pain management, podiatry and urology. Catholic Health received $8 million in funding through a New York State Department of Health transformation grant, in support of the creation of this new, contemporary ambulatory center,” according to the release.

It goes on to say that estimates show that “forty percent of health care will be delivered in the outpatient ambulatory care setting in the coming years.”

In an interview, Christine Flaherty, senior vice president for facilities and real estate for Catholic Health, said among a host of reasons why the site was chosen is that Riverhead is “the gateway to the North and South forks.”

She said the new facility, which will employ around 30 people, will meet the needs of long time residents as well as those who have retired to the East End.

“We saw a gap in patient care access out east,” she said. “When we look at that corridor, we saw gaps in care. Riverhead is a gateway and its own destination. It stood out as a great location for us.”