Beth Abraham changes name to Centerlight Health Systems

The Beth Abraham Family of Health Services, a provider and manager of long-term care services for disabled and chronically ill people, announced on Monday, February 6, that it will rename itself CenterLight Health System.

President and CEO Michael Fassler, along with chief marketing officer Christie O’Toole gave presentations during an employee launch event held at the facility on Allerton Avenue.

“The name CenterLight captures our organization’s long-standing commitment to health care that is uniquely focused on the patient, innovative in its approach and delivered with compassion and a commitment to quality,” Fassler said. “Offering a broad continuum of services under a single brand will make it easier for patients and their families to understand and access the programs that meet their individual needs.”

The system spans 40 health care facilities in Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, Westchester and Long Island, includes 3,700 employees and serves 9,000 patients per day. The Comprehensive Care Management managed care division has more than 6,400 members, and facilities and services range from medical care to nursing homes and a music therapy institute.

Beginning next month, all facilities within the new CenterLight Health System will be rebranded. They will keep their individual names, but each program will add “an affiliate of CenterLight Health System” to reflect their unity.

CenterLight has been particularly innovative with its managed care plans. With New York State mandating managed care for all long-term care patients beginning in April, CenterLight Health care already offers a number of managed care options for Medicare and Medicaid patients.

“By April 1, the government wants all people with long term care needs that live in the community to love into a managed care program,” Fassler said. “All nursing home patients with long term care needs will move into managed care over the next couple of years, so with this, you’ll be moving thousands of patients into managed care programs and so you want to have a brand that people know and trust.”

O’Toole said the facility came up with their new name by researching what employees, patients and families thought the name of the facility should be by conducting surveys and polls.

“Center reflects the fact that we put our patients at the center of everything we do,” O’Toole said. “Light reflects our shared mission of illuminating and improving our patients life every day. Center Light, our name, also celebrates our Jewish heritage. If you think of the center light on the menorah, it’s lit and then it exists to light and support the other candles, much in the same way we’re here to serve our patients.”