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  • REPORT TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS – April 2024

REPORT TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS – April 2024

Mitchell H. Katz, MD
NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS
PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
REPORT TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
April 25, 2024

NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS FACILITIES FOCUS ON
BLACK MATERNAL HEALTH WEEK

Many of our facilities recognized Black Maternal Health Week from April 11th through the 17th. This is a very important issue for NYC Health + Hospitals. Across our health System we are using innovative interventions that we believe will address the disparities and race-based health care gaps that historically and disproportionally affect the diverse population of patients we proudly serve. According to data published in 2023 by the NYC Health Department’s Bureau of Vital Statistics, in 2020 the pregnancy-related and pregnancy-associated maternal mortality rates for non-Hispanic Blacks was 4 to 5 times greater than that of non-Hispanic white patients. Our hospitals held educational events, and our Chief Women’s Health Officer, Dr. Wendy Wilcox, was invited to NY1 News to discuss the topic.

MAYOR ADAMS AND NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS OPEN 16
MENTAL HEALTH CLINICS IN NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Mayor Eric Adams and the health System are opening 16 school-based mental health clinics in New York City Department of Education (DOE) schools over the next six months to serve over 6,000 students across the Bronx and Central Brooklyn. The clinics will offer students access to individual, family, and group therapy, with connections to outpatient clinics and telehealth services as needed. Additionally, teachers and school staff will have access to mental health clinic staff for consultation, trainings, and workshops to ensure students are appropriately supported and referred to care. Schools will also receive support so they can respond to mental health crises without contacting 911 unnecessarily and avoid needless emergency room visits and hospitalizations. The 16 new satellite clinics build on the five existing mental health clinics that NYC Health + Hospitals already utilizes in the City’s public schools.

The new school-based mental health clinics are funded with $3.6 million from the Mental Health Continuum, a partnership between NYC Health + Hospitals, DOE, DOHMH, and Advocates for Children announced as part of the Adams administration’s mental health agenda, “Care, Community, Action: A Mental Health Plan for New York City.” The clinics also received grants from the New York State Office of Mental Health through the Mental Health Outpatient Treatment and Rehabilitative Service Program.

VIRTUAL EXPRESSCARE’S ERFAN KARIM, MPH NAMED TO
MODERN HEALTHCARE’S 2024 INNOVATORS LIST

Virtual ExpressCare’s Erfan Karim, MPH, was recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of its Innovators for 2024. Erfan Karim is Assistant Vice President of Mobile Integrated Health and Executive Director of ExpressCare. Modern Healthcare’s ‘2024 Innovators Awards’ recognizes leaders and organizations leading innovation in health care. Karim was recognized for his role in creating NYC Health + Hospitals’ Virtual ExpressCare service, a model that allows New Yorkers in need of urgent care for non-life-threatening health issues to connect with a NYC Health + Hospitals provider for an evaluation within minutes. More than 90,000 New Yorkers have accessed its services annually since its launch in 2020, and it has attracted 100,000 new patients to the health System. The profile is featured in the April 8, 2024 issue of MH magazine.

MICHELLE LEWIS, NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/GOTHAM HEALTH CEO, RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF THE “POWER WOMEN OF MANHATTAN 2024” BY SCHNEPS MEDIA

NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health’s Chief Executive Officer, Michelle Lewis, was recognized by Schneps Media as among its “Power Women of Manhattan 2024” awardees. Lewis is celebrated as an accomplished health care administrator, who has made significant changes to her organization’s strategic direction. She has improved the patient experience and increased access to care. Schneps Media is a local media company that reaches over 2 million readers per week across two daily newspapers and a large group of community newspapers, magazines, and websites.

NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/CORRECTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES UNVEILED NEW MURAL AT REENTRY CENTER ON RIKERS ISLAND

On Thursday, April 18 Correctional Health Services unveiled a new mural on Rikers Island created by multimedia artist Dindga McCannon with participation by people in custody. The design for the mural, Towards a Brighter Tomorrow!, was developed by McCannon through a series of focus groups with people incarcerated on Rikers Island, who are patients of NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Service (CHS). Many of the same patients later painted the design in sections under McCannon’s guidance with support from her son, fellow artist Harmarkhis McCannon. Envisioned as a welcoming, uplifting sight for the hundreds of people who are released from Rikers jail facilities each year, Towards a Brighter Tomorrow! is now on display on an exterior wall of the CHS Reentry Service Center, a resource hub for recently incarcerated New Yorkers and those visiting loved ones in custody. The mural is one of 37 created at NYC Health + Hospitals through the Community Mural Program, run by the System’s Arts in Medicine department and made possible through the generous support of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.

The mural depicts a diverse but interwoven group of five people walking away from a jail facility toward people with open arms waiting to receive them in the community. They carry with them such resources as education, resilience, family, employment, and love. Depictions of the sun, flowers, birds, and musical symbols across the mural represent sources of positive emotions that the CHS patients identified for incorporation into the final design. Around the mural’s edges are painted affirming words: support, self-love, courage, friends, hope, and dreams.

NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/QUEENS RECEIVES NATIONAL HEALTHGRADES RECOGNITION FOR PATIENT SAFETY

NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens received recognition for outstanding achievements in patient safety from Healthgrades, a leading national healthcare organization dedicated to evaluating and comparing hospital performance. It joins only eight other hospitals in the state with the distinction. The hospital was previously noted for its high standard in patient safety in 2022 and 2023 by Healthgrades, making this the third consecutive year it has attained this citing.

Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance based on patient outcomes, adjusting for individual risk factors such as age, gender, and medical conditions. The organization continually reviews its ratings methodology and clinical quality evaluation process to ensure the accuracy and relevance of its data analysis.

43 NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS SOCIAL WORKERS HONORED
FOR THEIR COMMITMENT TO THEIR PATIENTS

On Friday, April 12, 43 social workers from across the health System were honored for their commitment and dedication to their patients. There are more 1,000 social workers employed at the health System performing a variety of roles, including managers, therapists, researchers, discharge planners, and policymakers. They work closely with family caregivers, friends, neighbors and community-based agencies to help patients resume their life within the community. This year over 400 nominations were submitted from across the System, and the 43 honorees were selected from this pool by their facility’s individual social work recognition committee. The honorees were recognized for their dedication to their patients and their passion for the mission of NYC Health + Hospitals. Social work is one of the fastest growing professions in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are almost 720,000 professional social workers in the country, and that number is expected to surpass 800,000 by 2030.

NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/JACOBI|NORTH CENTRAL BRONX RECEIVES THREE
BEACON AWARDS FOR NURSING EXCELLENCE

NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi|North Central Bronx was awarded several Beacon Awards for Excellence for its Cardiac Catherization Lab (Gold Level), Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Silver Level), and Cardiac Critical Care Unit (Silver Level). The Beacon Awards are distributed by the American Association of Critical‐Care Nurses (AACN). The AACN is the largest specialty nursing organization in the world, representing the interests of more than half a million acute and critical care nurses and includes more than 200 chapters in the United States. The Beacon Award for Excellence is a significant milestone that recognizes unit caregivers who successfully improve patient outcomes and align practices with AACN’s six Healthy Work Environment Standards.

NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/GOTHAM HEALTH, EAST NEW YORK
INSTALLS NEW STATE-OF-THE-ART 3D MAMMOGRAM MACHINE

NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health, East New York recently installed a state-of-the-art 3D mammogram machine, which provides cutting-edge breast cancer detection and a more comfortable experience for patients. Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women, and early detection is vital for effective treatment. 3D mammography, also known as breast tomosynthesis, captures multiple images of the breast from different angles, creating a more detailed and accurate representation of the breast tissue. This advanced machine offers cutting-edge breast cancer detection while ensuring a more comfortable experience for patients. It features an innovative paddle designed for comfort, conforming to the breast’s shape with rounded corners for the most comfortable compression with higher quality 3D images for radiologists, enhanced comfort for patients, and improved workflow for technologists. This system delivers sharper images and smarter technologies to continue to help find invasive cancers regardless of age or breast density.

SIX ARTISTS SELECTED TO CREATE NEW COMMUNITY MURALS

NYC Health + Hospitals’ Arts in Medicine department has selected 6 artists to create new murals at its facilities as part of the Community Mural Project. The artists will design the murals through focus groups with hospital staff and the community, followed by “paint parties” to create the mural. The Community Mural Project is believed to be the country’s largest public hospital mural program since the 1930s, when the depression-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) commissioned murals in public buildings, including virtually every hospital in New York City’s public healthcare system. Decades of research have shown that the arts can play a role in “healing the healers” as well as improving patient outcomes and forging community health awareness and partnerships. The new murals will build on the 35 murals already created through the Community Mural Project. The first few years of the project were recently featured in a new book, Healing Walls: New York City Health + Hospitals Community Mural Project 2019-2021. The Community Mural Project and several other Arts in Medicine programs at NYC Health + Hospitals are made possible with a grant from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.

ONE OF THE LAST BLACK ANGELS, NURSES WHO CARED FOR TB PATIENTS, RECOGNIZED WITH DAISY LIFETIME ACHEIVEMENT AWARD

NYC Health + Hospitals, the DAISY Foundation, and the Chi Eta Phi Sorority, celebrated the Black Angels, black nurses who treated tuberculosis patients at Sea View Hospital on Staten Island from the 1920’s to the 1960’s. Virginia Allen, one of the last surviving Black Angels, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the DAISY Foundation, a recognition given to nurses who have devoted their life’s work to the compassionate care of others. Virginia treated patients with tuberculosis from 1947 to 1961. NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem was also recognized by the DAISY Foundation and Chi Eta Phi Sorority for its role in providing nurses to treat tuberculosis patients. Signed copies of a new book about this period, The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis by Maria Smilios, were distributed by the author.

MORE THAN 5,000 PEOPLE IN SHELTERS HAVE
ACCESSED TELEHEALTH THROUGH VIRTUAL EXPRESSCARE

Since January 2023 more than 5,000 people in shelter have accessed telehealth services through the Virtual ExpressCare platform. Virtual ExpressCare offers round-the-clock access to healthcare, 365 days a year, making it easy for patients to access care when and where it’s convenient for them. Of the more than 5,000 individuals in shelter who used Virtual ExpressCare, nearly half were uninsured, while another 5% were covered through NYC Care, underscoring the importance of financial access for healthcare delivery. Virtual ExpressCare caters to a multilingual demographic group, with Spanish, English, and French ranking as the top languages spoken. The demographic breakdown further underscores the commitment to serving New York City’s diverse communities, with Latino and Black patients comprising 70% of those accessing Virtual ExpressCare.

THE “COLER CAFÉ” OPENS AT NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/COLER,
ENHANCING DINING EXPERIENCE FOR RESIDENTS

NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler, in partnership with Sodexo, launched the The Coler Café, the most recent addition to the dining and culinary experience available to hundreds of nursing home residents. The collaborative approach of Sodexo’s food service associates and Coler’s team of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists offers a flavorful menu, individually tailored to the dietary needs of each resident. The Coler Café is open two days during the week, Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 11:30am – 1:30pm. Coler residents can make reservations through their designated care teams to ensure the appropriate meals meet their dietary needs.  

NYC CARE RELEASES MULTILINGUAL VIDEOS FOCUSED ON ITS MEMBERSHIP CARD

NYC Care released a series of videos explaining the NYC Care membership card and how to use the benefits of the program. The videos feature NYC Care Executive Director Jonathan Jiménez, MD, MPH, alongside colorful animations, as a voiceover highlights the different components of the membership card. With the card, NYC Care members can know when to renew their membership, their primary care provider, and the fees they can expect to pay for services. By de-mystifying the process of using the NYC Care card, the videos are intended to encourage both NYC Care-eligible New Yorkers and existing members alike to utilize the benefits, starting with primary care. The videos are dubbed and subtitled in the following languages: Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, English, French, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu. Alongside the release of the videos, NYC Care encourages all New Yorkers to share this social media toolkit to connect more New Yorkers to the program.

THE REMEDY, THE NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS PODCAST, DISCUSSES HELPING HEALERS HEAL AND WELLNESS IN FINAL EPISODE OF SEASON ONE

NYC Health + Hospitals released the seventh episode of its new podcast, The Remedy, featuring leaders and health care providers from the nation’s largest municipal health care system. Episode 7: Helping Healers Heal covers how NYC Health + Hospitals supports the mental health of its more than 40,000 health care workers. Host Dr. Michael Shen is joined by Dr. Eric Wei, Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals, and Jeremy Segall, the System Chief Wellness Officer, to delve into how the pressures of a healthcare job can often lead to stress, burnout, and depression, addressing the stigma around mental health, the System’s Helping Healers Heal program, using the arts to de-stress, and more. The Remedy is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and other podcast platforms.

RESPONDING TO THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS – SERVICES FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS

The public health system remains at the forefront of the City’s response to the historic influx of asylum seekers that began nearly two years ago. Our network of 14 humanitarian centers continues to provide crucial assistance to over 25,000 asylum seekers in our care, with families and children comprising around three-quarters of this demographic. At our humanitarian centers, our newest neighbors receive dignified care and the resources they need to find the path towards a more promising future.

Our pioneering work at the City’s Arrival Center — the front door for asylum seekers to access city services and receive comprehensive medical care — carries on apace. We have now welcomed approximately 140,000 people who have come to New York City, providing immediate, one-stop access to essential medical services, including screenings for communicable disease, urgent care, screening for depression, vaccinations, and connections to the case management and social services new arrivals need to take their next steps forward.

As we continue to evolve and refine our services, we are also engaging community partners to build upon them. Earlier this month, we launched our inaugural Case Management Community Advisory Board (CAB) and provided our members a tour of the Arrival Center. Their valuable feedback will ensure that the case management services we are providing are informed by the opinions and expertise of a diverse group of New Yorkers, including many with firsthand knowledge of the immigrant and asylum seeker experience or with advocating on their behalf.

Last month we also made sure to accommodate the dietary and faith needs of our many Muslim guests observing Ramadan, offering regular prayer services for adults at the Randalls Island, Hall Street, and Creedmoor humanitarian centers and providing suhoor, the pre-dawn meal, at all our sites for those fasting. While we have served halal food at all meals for well over a year, we celebrated Eid al-Fitr with a delicious feast for all of our guests to enjoy together. 

NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/WOODHULL ACHIEVES ACCREDITATION FOR ITS BARIATRIC PROGRAM

NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull’s bariatric surgery center has been accredited as a Comprehensive Center by the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP®), a joint Quality Program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS). Patients seeking surgical treatment for obesity and its related conditions have a new choice for receiving high-quality care at a nationally accredited program that meets the highest standards for patient safety and quality in the North Brooklyn area.

To earn accreditation, the hospital’s Weight Loss Center met essential criteria for staffing, training, facility infrastructure, and patient care pathways, ensuring its ability to support patients with obesity. The center also participates in a national data registry that yields semiannual reports on the quality of its surgical outcomes and identifying opportunities for quality improvement. The MBSAQIP Standards, Optimal Resources for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, published by the ACS and the ASMBS, ensure that metabolic and bariatric patients receive multidisciplinary medical care, which improves patient outcomes and long-term success. MBSAQIP-accredited centers offer preoperative and postoperative care designed specifically for patients with obesity.

NEW WELLNESS CENTER OPENS AT NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/ELMHURST

NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst recently opened a brand-new Wellness Center to support its 6,000 employees. The center sponsors programs that revolve around the 8 dimensions of wellness, including physical, emotional, social, intellectual, financial, environmental, spiritual, and occupational wellness. The center is expected to host over 100,000 visits a year from doctors, nurses, and other members of the hospital’s healthcare team. The calming space includes amenities designed to help busy staff relax and destress, such as a coffee machine, snack kiosks, massage chairs and stations for board games, art projects, and creative activities. The Wellness Center also sponsors a variety of other programs, including mental health workshops, cultural celebrations, mediation sessions, and exercise activities throughout the hospital campus.

NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/BELLEVUE NOW OFFERS MOHS
MICROGRAPHIC SURGERY FOR THE TREATMENT OF SKIN CANCER

NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue now offers Mohs micrographic surgery for the treatment of skin cancer. Mohs micrographic surgery is the most effective way to treat basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) and squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), the two most common types of skin cancer. The surgery offers less scarring and the highest tumor cure rate, and has a success rate as high as 99 percent. The hospital has built a new Mohs laboratory, including an advanced Olympus BX53 Dual-View Mohs Microscope with Camera, that will allow dermatologic surgeons to remove skin cancer carcinomas in one visit, saving as much healthy tissue as possible and improving patient healing time. Hospital staff held a ribbon cutting to dedicate the new Mohs laboratory, and began treating patients on March 22.

NYC CARE JOINS CITY AND STATE AGENCIES TO SPREAD WORD ABOUT MEDICAID EXPANSION FOR UNDOCUMENTED OLDER NEW YORKERS

On Thursday, April 4, City and State agencies led a Citywide Day of Action to encourage undocumented New Yorkers aged 65 and older to enroll in a newly expanded Medicaid-managed care insurance plan. As of January 1, Medicaid was expanded to include undocumented older adults who are income-eligible in New York State. Previously, insurance for undocumented older residents was limited to coverage for medical emergency visits.

To reach undocumented New Yorkers who may qualify, the NYC Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit and NYC Care staff and their affiliate partners disseminated flyers in multiple languages in neighborhoods across the City with large immigrant populations. Older Adult Centers across the City and other partner locations have also shared information about the expansion with community members. In addition to the on-the-ground outreach, City and State agencies launched a social media campaign to amplify the message. 

New Yorkers who may qualify can connect with the Public Engagement Unit’s GetCoveredNYC program or go directly to an NYC Health Department Site to enroll. Those already enrolled in the Emergency Medicaid program will be automatically transferred to this expanded coverage and will have an opportunity to choose a new plan.

SOCIAL WORK CONFERENCE AT NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS/JACOBI HIGHLIGHTS VITAL ROLE OF SOCIAL WORKERS IN MASS CASUALITY EVENTS

A social work conference held at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi | North Central Bronx provided expert training to develop professional crisis response skills for a mass-casualty event. Attendees learned about using trauma-informed language when talking to families and survivors of violence. They also learned aspects of psychological first aid and post-traumatic growth.  This year’s conference included two keynote speakers who brought their extensive expertise to the field of emergency response: Lisa Wobbe-Veit, MSW and Christine Montgomery, DSW, LCSW. The former is a 20-year veteran of the social work field, played a crucial role as a recovery consultant for Broward County Public Schools following the tragic mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Dr. Montgomery, a social work professional for 30 years, was involved with the response and aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Connecticut for nearly six years.

The Conference honors the groundbreaking work of Bill Lane, a former Deputy Director of Social Work at Jacobi Hospital, who pioneered the training of social workers in disaster response.

EXTERNAL AFFAIRS UPDATE

City: On April 17, City Council held an oversight hearing on “School Based Health Centers and School Based Mental Health Centers.” Dr. Ted Long and Jason Hansman participated for Q&A.

NYC Health + Hospitals’ Executive Budget hearing has been scheduled for May 13 at Noon, where Dr. Katz will testify and provide updates on the health System’s FY25 budget.

State: A $237 billion State Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budget was enacted on Saturday, April 20. We were pleased to see over $800 million included for hospital and nursing home Medicaid rates, a top advocacy priority for the System. This critical investment is important since the Governor’s executive budget did not include any Medicaid rate increases. We were also happy that the majority of the proposed Medicaid cuts were restored and that the budget included up to $300 million for the safety net transformation fund.

Additionally, the final budget authorizes the State Health Department to seek Federal approval to impose a managed care organization tax. Any new tax revenues would be deposited in a Healthcare Stability Fund, which may be used to reimburse Medicaid MCOs for the tax through increased premium payments, supplemental support for Medicaid health care services and quality incentive programs, reimbursement of the general fund for Medicaid expenses, and capital investments to support health care.

Federal: Senators Schumer and Gillibrand ensured that $2M of funding was included in the recently passed Federal funding package for cardiac catheterization services at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst. With the Fiscal Year 2024 budget finally resolved, Congress is moving on to Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations. NYC Health + Hospitals submitted Congressionally Directed Spending (aka earmarks) requests for projects across the System, which will be evaluated as negotiations continue through the rest of the year.

With the 2024 DSH cuts eliminated, NYC Health + Hospitals’ Federal advocacy focus shifts to the next deadline when the cuts could go into effect, which is January 1, 2025.

Community Affairs: At its April 9 meeting, the Council of Community Advisory Boards (CABs) heard a presentation from the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion titled “Embracing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Across Communities.” Topics covered included language access, disability inclusion, and gender equity. In May, the Council of CABs will also receive a presentation from Community CARE and the NYS Medical Cannabis Program. 

The next Central Council of Auxiliaries meeting is scheduled for June 6. Council Chair Pearl John has continued to communicate with auxiliary chairs to address their needs and will engage with them via WhatsApp. The Community Affairs team has also been coordinating with auxiliaries to ensure compliance with New York State guidelines regarding audits and tax filing.

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