Downtown Hospitals Merge

New York-Presbyterian Hospital announced last Monday that it will be merging with New York Downtown Hospital to expand health care services to the neighborhood of 75,000 residents. New York-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital, as the 180-bed community clinic will be renamed, remains the only hospital in Lower Manhattan. New York-Presbyterian Hospital has teamed up with Columbia University's and Cornell 's medical schools to provide better care to diverse and underserved neighborhoods on six campuses throughout the city. The expansion comes just in time before the Affordable Care Act goes into effect this January, which aims to increase access to quality care and could overstretch hospital resources.