Catholic Health Services of LI to move nearly 200 jobs to Melville

Catholic Health Services of Long Island Inc. plans to move nearly 200 administrative and technology jobs to Melville, saving money and freeing up space in its hospitals for patient care, officials said.

The health care system, based in Rockville Centre, wants to rent 26,000 square feet at 320 South Service Rd., off the Long Island Expressway, for a “centralized corporate location” for tech and administrative employees. Their duties include verifying patients’ insurance coverage and maintaining medical records.

The 191 affected employees now work at six hospitals: Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, St. Francis Hospital in Flower Hill and St. Joseph Hospital in Bethpage.

The Melville project, valued at $1.2 million, won tax breaks from the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency this month. The health care system will save $361,000, including $260,640 in property taxes over 10 years.

In return for IDA assistance, Catholic Health has promised to preserve the 191 jobs.

Dennis Verzi, Catholic Health’s chief operating officer, told the IDA that the Melville facility will include a center for physicians to be trained in medical records.

“The proposed consolidation will achieve cost savings by using resources more productively,” he said, adding it will help the Catholic hospitals “continue to be competitive.”

IDA executive director Anthony J. Catapano said the Catholic Health project deserves tax breaks because it will lead to additional hospital space for patient care and, he hoped, create jobs. He noted that the health care system has 18,565 employees, including 11,870 in Suffolk County.

Catapano said this is the first time that the IDA has backed a consolidation project by a health care system, though it has issued tax-exempt bonds for building projects and to refinance existing debt at lower interest rates.