New York City's Public Hospital System: On the Road to High Performance
<p>The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) is the nation's largest municipal hospital and health care system. HHC has undertaken a series of improvement initiatives that appear to be transforming the organization's culture, systems, and care processes, according to a Commonwealth Fund case study released today.<br><br>As described in <a href="/publications/fund-reports/2008/oct/the-new-york-city-health-and-hospitals-corporation--transforming-a-public-safety-net-delivery-system
">The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation: Transforming a Public Safety-Net Delivery System to Achieve Higher Performance</a>, HHC has increasingly become a "provider of choice" for many of the city's residents. The report reveals how HHC is achieving higher levels of performance by deploying a common clinical information system that promotes information continuity across care settings; coordinating care to improve chronic disease management; adopting a team-based, "continuous innovation" approach to improve the quality and value of care; and ensuring access to appropriate, responsive care.<br><br>HHC's leaders have learned that organizational transformation requires galvanizing champions and addressing organizational culture issues that impede innovation and risk-taking. Among the specific strategies they've followed are:<ul><li>making use of clinical information systems</li><li>using collaborative initiatives to develop internal capacity for improvement</li><li>aligning financial incentives and management strategy by contracting exclusively with fully capitated managed care plans</li><li>expanding relationships with community providers to attract additional Medicaid-insured patients.</li></ul>The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum recently recognized HHC's initiative to increase transparency in health care with the 2008 Eisenberg Award for Innovations in Patient Safety and Quality at the Local Level.<br><br>Visit <a href="/chartcart/">ChartCart</a> to browse charts from this report.</a></p>