2014 Archives - Page 2 of 14 - New York Health Foundation

Callen-Lorde Community Health Center

More than 1 million individuals have enrolled in public and private coverage through the NY State of Health Marketplace.

Consumer assistance has played a critical role in helping previously uninsured individuals understand their health insurance options and apply for coverage—in New York alone, fully half of all those who enrolled in coverage relied on in-person assistance. Significant work remains, however, to eliminate barriers to coverage for more than 1 million New Yorkers who remain uninsured and to help those who did enroll renew their coverage. To complement the State’s efforts to engage and enroll uninsured residents, NYHealth launched in 2014 a statewide enrollment network of community-based organizations to conduct education, outreach, enrollment, and referrals. These organizations directly reach populations known to be uninsured at disproportionately high rates: low-wage workers; immigrants; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) New Yorkers. NYHealth awarded Callen-Lorde Community Health Center (Callen-Lorde) a grant in 2013 to participate in this initiative. NYHealth awarded Callen-Lorde a second grant to continue these efforts in 2015.

With NYHealth funding, grantees of this initiative undertook a comprehensive range of consumer engagement activities and enrolled uninsured New Yorkers into coverage. Specifically, Callen-Lorde targeted New York City’s LGBT communities for enrollment assistance. It also provided services to all eligible clients residing in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, regardless of sexual orientation, sexual/gender identity, racial/ethnic background, language spoken, or special needs.

View a complete list of 2015 Enrollment Network grantees.

Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, Inc.

New York’s health care system is in a period of transformation. The State is planning an ambitious set of payment and delivery system reforms and is making major progress in expanding health insurance coverage.

However, many New Yorkers are still either ineligible for subsidized coverage through the NY State of Health Marketplace or struggle to afford their coverage. To ensure that those left behind by the coverage expansions are at the center of discussions of health reform, NYHealth awarded Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, the fiscal sponsor for Health Care for All New York (HCFANY), a grant for HCFANY to act as a unified consumer voice on health care issues and ensure that the interests of patients are represented in policy debates and decisions.

Under this grant, HCFANY directed its advocacy efforts toward enhancing patient protections; advancing payment and delivery reforms; and promoting affordable health coverage options. It facilitated meaningful consumer engagement and created mechanisms that allowed consumer input to reach policymakers and administrators. To accomplish these goals, HCFANY conducted policy research and analysis and policy campaigns from the consumer perspective. It promoted public education and awareness by creating consumer education materials, sharing consumer stories, creating Web content, and conducting media outreach. HCFANY also conducted grassroots organizing to directly engage consumers in health reform and consumer protections and build coalitions that involve consumers on key health care issues.

American Diabetes Association, Inc.

The National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP)— an evidence-based lifestyle change program for preventing diabetes— has demonstrated that the risk of developing diabetes can be reduced by more than half among participants who lose 5% to 7% of their body weight.

The New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) has funded a range of activities to help organizations implement, expand, and secure sustainability of the NDPP in community-based settings across the State. To foster coordination of NDPP offerings in the Greater Buffalo and Greater Rochester regions, NYHealth awarded the American Diabetes Association (ADA) a grant to serve as a regional program coordinator to increase demand for the NDPP, build referral networks, and advise NYHealth on strategies to encourage reimbursement for the program.

Under this grant, ADA visited primary care providers in Monroe and Erie counties, prioritizing geographic areas in the vicinity of existing NDPP program locations. During these visits, ADA introduced clinical providers and their office staff members to the program, disseminated existing diabetes control and prevention resource guides, and connected them to local NDPP sites. In addition, ADA convened monthly collaborative meetings of NDPP site leaders. It convened an NDPP workgroup of board leaders to help advance the conversation and advocate for reimbursement.

Erie County Department of Health

To help foster statewide implementation of prevention activities, the New York State Department of Health issued the Prevention Agenda 2013–17 to address disease prevention and reduce health disparities.

All 58 local health departments were required to submit a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) to the State outlining their strategies to advance the Prevention Agenda. To help energize the implementation of these CHIPs, the New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) is awarding grants to health departments with the most innovative and feasible projects to improve the health and wellbeing of their communities through the Advancing New York State’s Prevention Agenda: A Matching Funds Program to Implement Community Health Improvement Plans initiative. The Prevention Agenda offers NYHealth a timely opportunity to build upon its work in diabetes prevention by helping support initiatives that tackle the root causes of diabetes and other chronic conditions, such as obesity and smoking. NYHealth awarded Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH) a grant to participate in this initiative.

ECDOH used funds to focus on the Prevention Agenda priority area of promoting healthy women, infants, and children. It worked to increase rates of breast-feeding in Erie County by helping one hospital and OB-GYN, pediatric, and family medicine practices serving Medicaid populations attain breast-feeding friendly designation from the New York State Department of Health. ECDOH also collaborated with community partners to increase education efforts and other breast-feeding supports, such as baby cafes, workplace lactation rooms, and other childcare settings.

See a full list of recipients.

University at Albany Foundation/Center for Excellence in Aging & Community Wellness

Strong evidence has emerged in support of strategies to prevent diabetes. Specifically, the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) was identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an effective, evidence-based public health program that can help participants with prediabetes reduce their risk of developing the disease by 50%.

Building demand—at both the consumer and the physician levels—is crucial to NDPP sustainability. The Center for Excellence in Aging and Community Wellness (CEACW) operates the New York State Quality & Technical Assistance Center (QTAC), which replicates and disseminates evidence-based health and wellness and disease prevention programs throughout New York State. NYHealth awarded CEACW a grant to equip QTAC in providing technical assistance to 20 health care provider organizations across the State to help them offer the NDPP, connect people to it, and sustain the program in the long run.

Under this grant, QTAC targeted direct service providers from a pool of partners, including four regional health care provider organizations, two rural health networks, and five hospitals. Specifically, QTAC offered technical assistance to help providers improve identification of prediabetes among patients and made appropriate referrals. QTAC also supported lifestyle coaches offering the NDPP within each organization, trained coaches, and offered strategies to ensure successful program implementation and patient retention. To monitor and evaluate the programs, QTAC made tools and templates available to share updates on patient performance with primary care providers, documented outcomes, and maintained CDC program recognition. To help secure NDPP sustainability, QTAC provided templates for pay-for-performance models and contract language, as well as provided examples of business models used to ensure sustainability of the program.

Consumers Union of United States, Inc.

Wikipedia is the seventh most-visited website on the Internet, and its 26,000 health care articles are accessed by Web users 178 million times a month.

New Yorkers have come to use Wikipedia for information on health care, medical use, and appropriate care. Doctors and providers also often consult Wikipedia to get a quick take on an issue or as a springboard to additional sources in the footnotes. Editing Wikipedia to include evidence-based information about appropriate care and overused medical procedures is an important intervention to advance public health. The Wikipedia Education Program uses medical students as fact checkers and editors to improve the quality and accuracy of Wikipedia’s health information. To ensure high-value edits to articles that directly impact patient and provider information needs, NYHealth awarded Consumers Union of United States, Inc., a grant to support a two-year collaborative with New York State medical schools to implement the Wikipedia Education Program.

Under this grant, a Consumers Union staff member led the Wikipedia Education Program. Known as the “Wikipedian-in-Residence,” the staff member encouraged medical schools to adopt the program; held trainings, seminars, and edit-a-thons; and developed and distributed instructional guides geared specifically to medical schools. Professors assigned students to carry out collaborative class projects to jointly edit Wikipedia articles on high-priority health topics in New York State, including medical overuse and guidelines for appropriate care. Medical students gained experience by researching, submitting, and publishing articles, as well as by reviewing and critiquing each other’s work. In addition, Consumers Union convened a conference on online medical information and appropriate use of medical care, along with several smaller events or seminars throughout New York State.

Read a post on the Health Affairs GrantWatch blog about improving the accuracy of Wikipedia’s medical information by NYHealth Program Officer Brian Byrd.

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Year: 2014