By Long Island Senior Advisor Care Team · August 26, 2026
Stony Brook Medicine is Long Island's only academic medical system, and it discharges patients from three hospitals with very different footprints: a Level 1 trauma flagship in Stony Brook, Southampton Hospital on the South Fork, and Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport. Here's how the handoff actually works at each.
A Public University Hospital, Not a Private Health System
Long Island has four hospital systems that overlap in confusing ways -- Northwell Health, Catholic Health Long Island, NYU Langone, and Stony Brook Medicine -- and families researching a parent's discharge often assume they're all the same kind of institution. They aren't. Stony Brook Medicine is part of the State University of New York, which makes Stony Brook University Hospital Long Island's only academic teaching hospital and the site of Nassau and Suffolk's most complex specialty care. Its flagship campus in Stony Brook runs 624 beds and holds Suffolk County's only Level 1 Trauma Center, meaning the most severely injured patients from across the eastern two-thirds of Long Island are routed there regardless of which hospital a family might otherwise prefer.
That academic, public-university structure matters for discharge planning in a practical way: Stony Brook's discharge process is built around a large, rotating clinical staff and a teaching-hospital case load, rather than a tight-knit community hospital roster. Families sometimes find the process feels more procedural and less personal than a smaller community hospital -- that isn't a flaw, it's a function of scale, and it means asking direct questions and getting names in writing matters even more here than at a single-campus community hospital.
Who You'll Actually Talk To at Stony Brook University Hospital
Discharge and post-acute planning at the main Stony Brook campus runs through the hospital's Social Work Services department, which coordinates placement into skilled nursing, sub-acute rehab, home care, or hospice, and helps families navigate insurance authorization for the next level of care. The department's main line is (631) 444-2552, staffed Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; outside those hours, including weekends, calls go to voicemail and are returned the next business day, which is worth knowing in advance so a Friday-afternoon discharge conversation doesn't stall over a weekend with no way to reach anyone.
As with any large hospital, ask on the first or second day of admission for the name and direct number of the social worker assigned to your parent's specific unit -- a general department line is a fine starting point, but a named contact who already knows the case saves real time once the actual discharge date is set. Because Stony Brook is a teaching hospital, it's also reasonable to ask whether the attending team changes on a fixed rotation schedule, since a handoff between attending physicians mid-stay can otherwise catch a family off guard right when discharge planning is getting serious.
Southampton Hospital: The South Fork's Only Acute-Care Hospital
Stony Brook Southampton Hospital is the only acute-care hospital on the South Fork, serving a year-round East End population that can multiply several times over during the summer season. It became part of Stony Brook Medicine's system and gives South Fork families access to specialty referral pathways into the main Stony Brook campus for care that isn't available locally, while still running its own discharge planning process for patients who can go home or into a South Fork facility directly.
The going-home and discharge process at Southampton is coordinated through the hospital's own case management and social work staff, distinct from the main campus's department, so a family whose parent was treated in Southampton should ask Southampton's own discharge team directly rather than assuming the Stony Brook main-campus number applies. Because skilled nursing and rehab options are thinner on the South Fork than in western Suffolk, it's worth asking early whether staying local is realistic or whether a transfer closer to family, or closer to a wider set of facility choices further west, makes more sense for the specific level of care your parent needs.
Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport -- and Why the North Fork Is Easy to Mix Up
Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport, first opened in 1905 as Suffolk County's first hospital, joined the Stony Brook Medicine system on July 1, 2019, and now operates as Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital, a 90-bed facility working in tandem with the Southampton and main Stony Brook campuses. Patients who need intensive or higher-acuity care are transferred from Greenport to Stony Brook University Hospital, so a North Fork family may end up dealing with both the Greenport discharge team and, for a more serious admission, the main campus's Social Work Services department in the same episode of care.
Here's the mix-up worth knowing about in advance: the North Fork also has Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, which is a Northwell Health hospital, not a Stony Brook Medicine one, despite being just down the road from Greenport. A family that assumes 'North Fork hospital' means one system can end up calling the wrong discharge department entirely. If your parent was admitted in Riverhead, you're dealing with Northwell's discharge process; if they were admitted in Greenport, you're dealing with Stony Brook Medicine's. Confirming which hospital, not just which town, is the first call worth making.
Where Stony Brook Discharge Patients Land: Rehab and Skilled Nursing
For families near the main Stony Brook campus, the discharge team typically draws from skilled nursing and sub-acute rehab facilities across central and eastern Suffolk, including options in Smithtown, Commack, and Port Jefferson Station -- a wider set of choices than the South Fork or North Fork can offer locally. Ask the discharge team for at least two or three named alternatives rather than accepting the first available bed, and confirm each option's network status with your parent's specific Medicare Advantage or Medicaid managed long-term care plan before agreeing to a transfer.
For Southampton and Greenport patients, the realistic facility options close to home are more limited, which is precisely why it's worth asking the discharge team directly whether transferring closer to Riverhead, Smithtown, or Commack opens up meaningfully more choice -- and weighing that against the added driving distance for whichever family members will be doing regular visits. There's no universally right answer here; it depends on how often someone can realistically make the drive versus how much a wider set of verified facility options matters for the specific care your parent needs.
Paying for the Next Step: MLTC, the NHTD Waiver, and the ALP
If your parent doesn't have long-term-care insurance or enough private-pay resources to cover an extended nursing home or home care stay, Stony Brook's discharge team should raise Medicaid long-term-care pathways as part of planning -- but understanding the options before that conversation helps you ask better questions. New York's Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) program has been mandatory in both Nassau and Suffolk since the 2013 transition for Medicaid recipients 21 and older who need more than 120 days of community-based long-term care and can remain safely at home; enrollment runs through NY Medicaid Choice or your county's Office for the Aging, not through the hospital.
The Nursing Home Transition and Diversion (NHTD) Medicaid waiver is a separate pathway, paying for home and community-based services for Medicaid-eligible seniors assessed as needing nursing-home-level care who can be served at home instead -- it covers services only, never room and board or rent. The Assisted Living Program (ALP) is different again: Medicaid funding embedded inside specific licensed Adult Homes or Enriched Housing Programs, not a portable voucher, so it's worth asking any specific facility what portion of the room-and-board cost its ALP rate actually covers. For a Suffolk County family anywhere from Stony Brook to Southampton to Greenport, Suffolk's Office for the Aging at 631-853-8200 is the right starting point to screen across all three programs; families whose parent has moved to or from Nassau should instead call Nassau's Office for the Aging at 516-227-8900, since each county runs its own separate office and neither shares a regional line with the other.
A Short Discharge-Day Checklist for Any Stony Brook Medicine Hospital
A few habits make the discharge process go more smoothly regardless of which of the three campuses is involved. Get the name and direct phone number of the assigned social worker in writing, not just verbally, as early in the admission as possible -- for the main campus, that starts with (631) 444-2552 during weekday business hours, with the understanding that weekend calls go to voicemail. Confirm which hospital, not just which general area, your parent was actually admitted to, especially on the North Fork where Peconic Bay Medical Center (Northwell) and Eastern Long Island Hospital (Stony Brook Medicine) sit close together but belong to different systems entirely.
Ask explicitly for two or three named rehab or skilled nursing alternatives rather than accepting the first bed offered, and confirm each option's network status with your parent's specific insurance or MLTC plan before agreeing to a transfer. Finally, if your parent may qualify for Medicaid long-term care, start the MLTC, NHTD, or ALP screening conversation with your county's Office for the Aging in parallel with the hospital discharge process, not after -- these applications take time, and starting early helps avoid a coverage gap between discharge and the start of paid care.
