Alumni Profile: Patrick M. O鈥橲haughnessy
Current Career: President and Chief Executive Officer, Catholic Health
The聽recent partnership聽between the聽ge of Osteopathic Medicine聽(NYITCOM) and Catholic Health to advance patient-centered, community-based healthcare on Long Island is 鈥渢he perfect marriage,鈥� according to聽Patrick M. O鈥橲haughnessy (D.O. 鈥�99).聽O鈥橲haughnessy should know: he not only leads Catholic Health, but he is also a graduate of NYITCOM.
鈥淭here is a primary care shortage,鈥� says O鈥橲haughnessy. 鈥淭his new collaboration will give NYITCOM students much-needed postgraduate primary care training at Catholic Health and enable these young doctors to build their practices and stay in Long Island.鈥� Students can also draw on Catholic Health鈥檚 robust facilities, including six hospitals, three skilled nursing facilities, and a home nursing service and hospice.
Putting down roots in Long Island is important to O鈥橲haughnessy. He studied emergency medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center and worked at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and hospitals in New Jersey before returning to Long Island, where he served as assistant director of emergency medicine for St. Charles and chief medical officer for St. Catherine of Siena. He landed at Catholic Health in 2013. Despite the pressure of his career, O鈥橲haughnessy even managed to pick up an M.B.A. in business administration and a master鈥檚 degree in population health along the way.
O鈥橲haughnessy is also focused on helping his community beyond Catholic Health. As a member of the Suffolk County Heroin and Prescription Opiate Task Force, he contributed to revamping emergency department protocols for overdose victims and provided recommendations to reduce the overprescribing of opioids at hospitals.
The NYITCOM/Catholic Health partnership fits well into O鈥橲haughnessy鈥檚 vision of the future of healthcare, which he believes relies on how we educate the next generation of health-care providers. 鈥淨uality, safety, effective teamwork, change management, and patient-centeredness are all key aspects to medical and nursing education that we will look to support as part of this relationship,鈥� says O鈥橲haughnessy.
Medical students, says O鈥橲haughnessy, are the future for how healthcare will be delivered, and the new NYITCOM/Catholic Health program will benefit the students and the community of Long Island and the region. 鈥淲e鈥檙e in the business of healing. We鈥檙e here to ease the suffering.鈥� His wise words to medical students are: 鈥淓very patient you touch, you have an impact on their lives, their outcomes, on multiple levels.鈥�
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