'Spine Center Of Excellence' Slated For Smithtown Hospital

ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY — Catholic Health on Thursday announced the development of a new Spine Center of Excellence at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown.

The Center of Excellence will be part of Catholic Health’s system-wide Integrated Spine Service, a program that aims to offer premium spine and pain care at select Centers of Excellence and integrate all Catholic Health facilities into a connected referral network that facilitates "high-
quality, comprehensive spine care across Long Island."

To develop the Center of Excellence, Catholic Health welcomed five fellowship-trained, board-certified orthopedic spine surgeons and three multi-board-certified physiatrists specializing in interventional pain management from Long Island Spine Specialists, P.C. (LISS) — a team of spine experts with experience in all spinal conditions — to Catholic Health Physician Partners, Catholic Health’s network of employed physicians.

"This is an integral step in a system-wide endeavor to extend our exceptional spine care across
Long Island," said Catholic Health President and CEO Patrick O’Shaughnessy in a news release. "Soon, patients will have access to spine and pain care at Centers of Excellence across Catholic Health, which will feature our incredible team of orthopedic and neurosurgical spine specialists, now joined by the expert physicians from Long Island Spine Specialists."

The LISS team will provide services throughout the Catholic Health system, stationed primarily
at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital for spine surgery and Good Samaritan University Hospital for
interventional pain management. The plan is to create more access points and practice locations
throughout the island.

"We’re honored to join Catholic Health to help spearhead its initiative of expanding its spine
care services for Long Islanders," said Thomas Dowling, Jr., founding partner of Long
Island Spine Specialists, P.C. "Whether patients come in with minor back pain or traumatic spine
injuries, our team will be there to provide exceptional spine care tailored to their needs."

St. Catherine of Siena Hospital will convert 11 beds to create a unit exclusively for spine
patients. In preparation for the conversion, an IT upgrade will be completed to implement state-
of-the-art post-operative monitoring to ensure optimal recovery for all patients. An existing
operating room will also be converted to allow for spine procedures and include an O-arm for
intraoperative imaging, allowing for real-time imaging during procedures to increase surgical
precision and improve patient outcomes.

Catholic Health also plans to develop a Center of Excellence for Orthopedics and Spine at Good
Samaritan University Hospital as part of its Integrated Spine Service.