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Month: April 2025

NYHealth Testimony on the City Council’s Report Card Initiative

Posted on by teamnyshealth

NYHealth Senior Program Officer Derek Coy submitted the following testimony to the April 28, 2025, New York City Council Committee on Veterans Meeting on Oversight – Implementing Recommendations from the City Council’s Report Card Initiative.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) regarding the implementation of recommendations from the City Council’s Report Card Initiative. NYHealth is a private, independent, statewide foundation dedicated to improving the health of all New Yorkers—including more than 133,000 veterans who call New York City home. My name is Derek Coy; I’m a Senior Program Officer at NYHealth. I am also a proud veteran, having served as a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. 

For more than 15 years, NYHealth has worked to understand and support the health needs of New York’s veterans. We do this through grantmaking, policy analysis, advocacy, research, and convenings. Our work has identified gaps in services and helped develop innovative, community-based programs that meet veterans where they are. Over the years, we have had the opportunity to partner closely with City agencies and partners to ensure New York’s veterans receive high-quality, culturally competent care and support. 

We appreciate the City’s focus on accountability and data transparency through the City Council Report Card Initiative and the Mayor’s Management Report. A high-performing City Department of Veterans’ Services (DVS) is essential to ensuring New York City’s veterans have access to the services and supports they need and deserve. To complement the City’s initiatives, we offer independent research and findings from recent NYHealth-supported analyses to inform the Council’s ongoing efforts. 

Veterans in New York City face unique barriers to care and wellbeing. Our recent Veterans’ Health Needs Assessment[1]—conducted by the RAND Corporation and released in October 2024—identified several areas where the City can continue to make progress. 

The report found that 26% of recently separated veterans in New York State have a probable PTSD diagnosis—a 60% increase since 2010. While some of that increase may reflect improved screening, reduced stigma, and greater access to care, the number remains striking. Nearly two-thirds of these veterans report having a disability, and one in five rate their health as “fair” or “poor”—clear signs that their health needs exceed those of their civilian peers. Alarmingly, more than 20% reported an unmet need for mental health care. Among veterans experiencing suicidal thoughts in the past year, nearly half (43.4%) did not receive the mental health help they needed.   

Other data reveals another sobering finding: veterans in New York City die by suicide at nearly twice the rate of their civilian peers. Mental health challenges—including PTSD, suicidal ideation, and substance use—contribute to poor outcomes for veterans. According to NYHealth’s own data analysis[2], veterans had a 2.5 times higher rate of “deaths of despair”—including deaths related to suicide and alcohol- and drugs— than civilians in New York City from 2012–2021.Younger veterans ages 18–34 had the highest suicide rate of all age groups, and veterans ages 55–64 had the highest rate of deaths of despair, with particularly high rates for Black and Hispanic veterans in the Bronx. These figures represent real people, families, and communities struggling to access the support they have earned. 

We know that suicide prevention requires a comprehensive strategy—one that addresses not only mental health care but also economic stability, social connection, and access to community-based support systems.  

NYHealth has invested in several programs that directly support these upstream factors, particularly around access to care, peer support, and connection to benefits. In many cases, we have collaborated with New York City agencies and partners to successfully scale and grow these programs. We believe more investment and attention is needed to meet the evolving needs of veterans in New York City and offer the following recommendations: 

  • Continue to support proactive outreach and wellness programs, including Mission: VetCheck. With NYHealth support, New York Cares—in partnership with DVS—operates Mission: VetCheck, a peer-based outreach program providing wellness check-ins, suicide screenings, and referrals to critical resources. This program has reached thousands of veterans and built a robust referral network for behavioral health, benefits counseling, and housing support.  
  • Strengthen collaboration between City agencies, community-based organizations, and health care providers to ensure no veteran falls through the cracks. NYHealth has supported initiatives that make it easier for veterans to access benefits and services, including recent veterans’ benefit expansions resulting from the largest expansion in federal Veterans Administration benefits through the PACT Act. NYHealth and City support for New York Cares and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America built on existing outreach programs to assist veterans with legal services, health care navigation, and community connection. More collaborations like these can help ensure that veterans are seamlessly enrolled in the services they need. 
  • Expand peer support initiatives citywide, building on existing successful models. Peer support offers invaluable guidance for families, who benefit from shared experiences. NYHealth has invested in expanding peer-to-peer programs like the Joseph P. Dwyer Peer Support Program (Dwyer program), which has shown success in reducing isolation and connecting veterans to services across New York State. The City’s focus on peer programming and its recent Request for Proposal process for the Dwyer Program are well-positioned as an opportunity to expand essential emotional support and practical resources for veterans, families, and caregivers. 
  • Ensure robust and specific data collection. The City’s Bureau of Vital Statistics can make available and leverage relevant local data to aid government and nonprofit organizations in their service delivery and evaluation efforts at relatively little cost. New, more precise data will be a beneficial resource to program planning and policy development at the City level. Future research efforts should also disaggregate data by race, ethnicity, age and borough to better inform tailored programs and address disparities in veteran outcomes. 

NYHealth remains committed to supporting veterans’ health in New York City. We believe the City Council’s focus on data transparency, accountability, and program investment is crucial to ensure that all veterans—and their families—have access to the care and resources they need. We look forward to being a partner in this work. 

References

[1] RAND. 2024. “Understanding Veterans in New York”. New York Health Foundation. New York, NY. Available at: https://nyhealthfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/RAND_Understanding-Veterans-in-New-York.pdf. 

[2] Cobbs, E. Coy, D. Ford, MM. Havusha, A. Sandman, D. 2024. “Navigating the Crisis: Deaths of Despair and Suicide Among New York City Veterans” New York Health Foundation. New York, NY. Available at: https://nyhealthfoundation.org/resource/nyc-deaths-of-despair-suicide/

What’s Going on at the VA?

Posted on by teamnyshealth

It is hard to overstate the importance of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the branch of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that manages health care services for veterans. It is the nation’s largest integrated health system, providing care to 9.1 million veterans through medical centers and outpatient clinics. Its services range from primary care and mental health to highly specialized treatments, rehabilitation, and assistance with health-related needs such as food and housing. It is at the forefront of efforts to prevent veteran suicide.

There is a lazy and inaccurate narrative about the VA. We hear about extended wait times, bloated budgets, and low-quality care. But the reality is different. Research and patient experience surveys indicate that the VA performs as well as, and often better than, the private sector. Is there fat to trim? Absolutely. But the VA has also been shown to be more efficient than the private health system.

Nearly 3 months into the new federal administration, how is the VA faring?

Here is a look at what’s going on:

Mass layoffs: The VA plans to fire 80,000 employees. The VA Secretary assures us that it won’t harm health care or benefits in any way. If you believe that, I also have a bridge to sell you.

How will claims be resolved and wait times shortened when there are fewer staff available to do the work? And one-quarter of VA employees are themselves veterans who might find themselves unemployed.

Decline of telehealth: A rare silver lining of the COVID pandemic was the rise of telehealth, which can be highly effective when used correctly. The VA invested in telehealth, especially to bring mental health services into rural areas. Now that all VA staff must work in the office, there is a lack of privacy and space that raises ethical issues. Would you like a veteran struggling with PTSD to be “treated” in an open call center?

If you truly want to improve telehealth for veterans, here are many smart ideas.

Undermining suicide prevention: The first Trump administration placed much-needed emphasis on veteran suicide. It established, via executive order, the President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS), a national plan to raise awareness about mental health, connect veterans to resources, and conduct research into suicide.

The Veterans Crisis Hotline, operated jointly by the VA and HHS, reported nearly 3 million calls between 2009 and 2017, which led to 82,000 emergency dispatches to prevent veterans from harming themselves. The VA steadily increased crisis-line staffing to address concerns that veterans were not receiving timely help, given the high volume of calls.

But that is being reversed. Ending remote work options for the 800 to 900 out of 1,130 crisis-line workers who work remotely will further undermine staffing.

Loss of research: The VA’s investment in medical research, nearly $916 million per year, benefits all of us. For example, VA research established the causal link between smoking and cancer. And the VA leads the world in researching and treating veteran-specific issues like traumatic brain injuries and toxic exposures.

Medical breakthroughs don’t just happen; they require a lot of brainpower. But it is estimated that 350 VA researchers will lose their jobs.

Key positions unfilled: Leadership matters. The VA has just launched searches for undersecretaries for health and benefits. The undersecretary for health manages 1,300 medical facilities, oversees guidelines for training clinicians, and develops plans for health emergencies, such as pandemics. The first Trump administration failed to fill this health role permanently and cycled through temporary leaders for the entire four-year term.

For the past few months, the VA has ignored the issues that matter most to veterans. It has instead focused on shrinking the agency, ending gender dysphoria treatment for transgender veterans, ending remote work policies, and ending diversity and inclusion programs.

We know what veterans really need and care about because we’ve asked them directly. An NYHealth survey of New York’s newest veterans found:

  • One-quarter had probable depression or probable PTSD;

It is still very early in the new administration. By listening to veterans, the VA can get its priorities straight.

By David Sandman, President and CEO, New York Health Foundation
Published on Medium on April 17, 2025

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