Health care in Central New York: hospitals, clinics and finding a doctor

This guide is for anyone who has just moved to Central New York, is choosing a hospital for a planned procedure, or needs a family doctor and does not know where to start. It walks through the region’s hospitals county by county, explains when urgent care makes more sense than an emergency room, and points to the community health centers that see patients regardless of insurance.

It also covers care for veterans, how to check a doctor’s license, and how to get coverage through the state’s insurance marketplace before open enrollment starts on November 1. Facts were checked as of October 2, 2026; call ahead before you go, because services and entrances change.

Syracuse: the region’s referral hospitals

Three hospitals in Syracuse take many of the most complex cases from across CNY. Upstate and Crouse are both on University Hill.

Upstate University Hospital

The teaching hospital of SUNY Upstate Medical University is Upstate University Hospital. The main Downtown campus is at 750 E. Adams St., and a second campus, Upstate Community Hospital, is at 4900 Broad Road. Upstate describes the Downtown adult and pediatric emergency departments as the region’s only Level 1 trauma center, covering 17 counties, and the Downtown campus also includes Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital. In Good Health, CNY’s health care newspaper, lists 781 beds and 108,880 emergency visits in 2024 in a 2026 hospital directory. Practical detail: adults and children use separate emergency departments Downtown, so check which entrance you need.

Crouse Health

The hospital run by Crouse Health is at 736 Irving Ave., also on University Hill. Crouse says the hospital delivers more babies than any other hospital in the region, nearly 4,000 a year, and the New York State Department of Health designates the Crouse newborn intensive care unit as Level 4. U.S. News & World Report named Crouse a Best Hospital for maternity care in the 2026 rankings. Crouse is also a nationally designated comprehensive stroke center. The main number is (315) 470-7111.

St. Joseph’s Health

The third hospital, St. Joseph’s Health, is at 301 Prospect Ave. and is part of Trinity Health; patients use the Trinity Health MyChart portal for records and messages. The hospital lists 451 beds in In Good Health’s directory and says U.S. News has named the hospital a Best Regional Hospital for 12 consecutive years. St. Joseph’s is part of the Roswell Park Care Network for cancer treatment, and In Good Health’s 2026 directory reported new thoracic surgery and orthopedic and spine programs.

Utica, Rome and the Mohawk Valley

Hospital care in Utica changed in 2023, when two hospitals closed the same morning a new one opened.

Wynn Hospital (Mohawk Valley Health System)

Wynn Hospital, run by Mohawk Valley Health System, opened at 6 a.m. on October 29, 2023, at 111 Hospital Drive in downtown Utica. That morning MVHS closed the St. Elizabeth and St. Luke’s hospitals on Genesee Street and Champlin Avenue and moved emergency and inpatient care to Wynn. The emergency entrance is at 440 Columbia St. In Good Health lists 373 beds and 67,916 emergency visits in 2024.

Rome Health

In Rome, Rome Health, the former Rome Memorial Hospital, is at 1500 N. James St. The hospital’s history page traces the start to a cottage hospital on Ridge Street that admitted a first patient on April 3, 1884. Rome Health built a 30,000-square-foot addition with new operating rooms and a nine-bed ICU, and the hospital says the main entrance on North James Street has reopened, with registration just inside.

Little Falls Hospital

In Herkimer County, Little Falls Hospital at 140 Burwell St. is a 25-bed hospital in the Bassett network. Bassett calls the hospital Herkimer County’s only provider of acute inpatient and emergency care. To reach the emergency department by phone, call (315) 823-1000 and press 1.

Madison, Oswego and Cortland counties

In the City of Oneida, which is in Madison County, Oneida Health runs a 101-bed hospital at 321 Genesee St. The hospital joined Upstate’s Telestroke Network, which lets Upstate’s stroke specialists help Oneida’s staff assess a possible stroke remotely.

Farther south, Community Memorial Hospital at 150 Broad St. in the Village of Hamilton has 25 beds and a 24-hour emergency room. The hospital, part of the Crouse Health network, has served the area since 1952 and runs family health centers in Cazenovia, Hamilton, Morrisville, Munnsville, Waterville and Sherrill. A renovation covering more than half the building, including a new emergency department and main entrance, was nearing completion in early 2026.

In Oswego County, Oswego Hospital at 110 W. Sixth St. is the hospital of Oswego Health, an independent nonprofit system that dates to 1881. The emergency department recorded 57,551 visits in 2024, and the hospital has 32 inpatient psychiatric beds in addition to the medical, ICU and maternity beds.

In Cortland, Guthrie Cortland Medical Center at 134 Homer Ave. has 162 beds and was designated a primary stroke center in April 2025. Guthrie says the hospital has served the Cortland area for more than 125 years. Emergency department renovations were under way in early 2026.

Otsego and Chenango counties

Bassett Medical Center at 1 Atwell Road in Cooperstown is the 180-bed teaching hospital at the center of Bassett Healthcare Network. The American College of Surgeons verified Bassett Medical Center as a Level III trauma center, and the Bassett Clinic for outpatient primary and specialty care is on the same campus. The emergency department number is (607) 547-3355.

In Oneonta, A.O. Fox Hospital at 1 Norton Ave. is a 67-bed Bassett hospital with emergency, cardiology, cancer, orthopedic and sleep disorder services.

In Norwich, UHS Chenango Memorial Hospital at 179 N. Broad St. is part of Binghamton-based United Health Services. On May 28, 2026, the hospital opened the first phase of a $30 million renovation: an accessible Broad Street entrance with an elevator, more than 100 new parking spaces and a new orthopedics suite. UHS officials told WBNG that later phases will upgrade inpatient care and the infusion center.

Urgent care or the emergency room

Emergency departments are for chest pain, stroke symptoms, serious injuries and anything else that cannot wait. Urgent care centers treat illnesses and injuries that are not life-threatening, and St. Joseph’s and other hospitals post guidance on their websites about choosing between the two.

One chain with many CNY locations is WellNow Urgent Care, which lists clinics in these communities:

• Onondaga County: Syracuse, Cicero, DeWitt and Liverpool.
• Oneida County: Utica, New Hartford and Rome.
• Elsewhere: Oneida, Cortland, Oswego, Fulton, Herkimer and Oneonta.

WellNow says the clinics are open seven days a week, including holidays, take walk-ins or online check-in, do x-rays, and charge a flat rate for patients without insurance. In Oswego County, Oswego Health runs urgent care at the system’s Fulton Medical Center and at Central Square Medical Center for patients 3 months and older.

Community health centers

Federally funded community health centers see patients with or without insurance and use a sliding fee scale based on income. Three of them in CNY:

• In Syracuse, Syracuse Community Health keeps the main location in a newer building at 930 S. Salina St. and also lists sites at 819 S. Salina St., on East Fayette Street and on Oswego Street. Primary care, pediatrics, dental, eye care, podiatry and OB-GYN visits book through (315) 476-7921.
• In Utica, Upstate Family Health Center at 1001 Noyes St. is a nonprofit health center with a sliding fee discount program and sites around the Mohawk Valley.
• In Oswego County, ConnextCare, formerly Northern Oswego County Health Services, has practices in Central Square, Fulton, Mexico, Oswego and Pulaski and has served Oswego County for more than 50 years.

To find other centers by address, use the federal Find a Health Center tool.

Care for veterans

The Syracuse VA Medical Center is at 800 Irving Ave., on the same street as Crouse. The VA Syracuse health care system also runs clinics in Rome, Oswego, Auburn, Binghamton and Watertown. In Good Health’s 2026 directory lists 106 beds at the medical center and notes a renovated community living center with 28 remodeled rooms.

Finding a primary care doctor

Start with your insurance plan’s directory, because visits to doctors outside the network usually cost more. Then call practices tied to the hospital nearest you; Community Memorial’s family health centers and Oswego Health’s medical practice are two examples, and the large systems run their own primary care offices. Ask whether the practice is taking new patients and how long the wait is for a first visit.

Before your first appointment, look the doctor up on the state’s New York State Physician Profile site. To compare hospitals side by side or check enforcement actions, use the Department of Health’s NYS Health Profiles.

Getting coverage through NY State of Health

New York’s insurance marketplace, NY State of Health, handles Medicaid, Child Health Plus, the Essential Plan and private Qualified Health Plans. The marketplace says enrollment for 2027 coverage opens November 1. Last year’s open enrollment ran from November 1, 2025, to January 31, 2026, and the state asked people to sign up by December 15 for coverage starting January 1. The Essential Plan has continuous enrollment, so eligible people can join any time of year. Help is free by phone at 1-855-355-5777 or in person through certified enrollment assistors and brokers.

Good to know

These coverage and access details were current as of October 2, 2026:

• On July 1, 2026, New York ended the Essential Plan tier for people earning 200 to 250 percent of the federal poverty level, which WBNG reported affected more than 450,000 people statewide. People in that group may qualify for subsidized marketplace plans during open enrollment.
• Open enrollment for 2027 marketplace coverage begins November 1, 2026. Check the state site for the final deadline.
• If your directions to a Utica hospital say St. Elizabeth or St. Luke’s, they are out of date. MVHS moved emergency care from those hospitals to Wynn Hospital, with the emergency entrance at 440 Columbia St.
• Community Memorial in Hamilton requires every visitor to show government-issued photo ID at the main or emergency entrance.

Know a place we missed or a detail that has changed? Send us a tip.