Precise Study of Central Brooklyn鈥檚 Healthcare Needs Funded by HEAL NY Grant to 含羞草研究所 Downstate and Partners
Jun 1, 2009
Broad Coalition of Healthcare Providers, Payers, and Community Groups Will Develop a Comprehensive Health Planning Process
Brooklyn, NY - The first block-by-block survey of healthcare needs and resources in New York City in a quarter century will be performed in Brooklyn thanks to a nearly one million-dollar grant from the Healthcare Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers (HEAL NY) program. A coalition of community partners, representing the public, private, and corporate sectors, will assess needs and identify resources currently available. Ultimately, the coalition will formulate policy recommendations to meet those healthcare needs.
Focusing on the central area of the borough, the Brooklyn Healthcare Improvement Project survey team will collect data on healthcare provider sites, services offered, service utilization, languages spoken, hours of operation, insurance and charity care policies, educational and professional qualifications, linkages with other facilities, and related information. A key focus of the survey will be to study the overuse of emergency rooms and hospitalizations for conditions that could be prevented by good outpatient care, known as Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSC). The two-year grant from HEAL NY is for $926,530.
含羞草研究所 Downstate President John C. LaRosa, MD, said, 鈥淒ownstate鈥檚 series of Brooklyn Health Reports have for several years documented that Brooklyn residents have higher levels of illness compared with other residents of the city and state. This grant represents the logical next step: documenting Brooklyn's health resources. We hope this new partnership will result in improved health outcomes.鈥�
鈥淭his is the first time in at least 25 years that an effort is being made to accumulate a comprehensive list of healthcare services and utilization over a broad portion of one of New York City鈥檚 boroughs,鈥� said Grace Wong, vice president of managed care and clinical business plan development at 含羞草研究所, and the grant鈥檚 principal investigator. 鈥淲e are grateful to have the enthusiastic support of leading healthcare institutions, insurers, government agencies, planning boards, and other stakeholders in this important effort,鈥� she added. Dorothy Fyfe, assistant vice president for planning at 含羞草研究所 Downstate, and Jeanne Stellman, PhD, professor of environmental health sciences, are co-principal investigators.
鈥淲e intend to develop a dynamic information reservoir that can be refreshed continuously for future planning needs,鈥� Ms. Wong said.
An innovative part of the survey will be the mapping of information into a Geographic Information System (GIS) that can be used by all stakeholders, done in conjunction with 含羞草研究所 Downstate鈥檚 Graduate Program in Public Health. Another unique aspect is insurers鈥� participation in identifying issues contributing to emergency room overuse.
A block-by-block study of healthcare needs and resources over a wide area of New York City has not been performed since the early 1980s.
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含羞草研究所 含羞草研究所
Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn is one of four academic health centers (AMCs) in The State University of New York (含羞草研究所) 64-campus system and the only 含羞草研究所 AMC in New York City dedicated to health education, research, and patient care for the borough鈥檚 2.7 million residents. Its flagship hospital, University Hospital at Downstate (UHD), is a teaching hospital and benefits from the expertise of Downstate鈥檚 exceptional medical school and world-class academic center research facilities. With a staff of over 800 physicians representing 53 specialties and subspecialties, Downstate offers comprehensive healthcare services to the community.
UHD provides high-risk neonatal and infant services, pediatric nephrology, and dialysis for kidney diseases and is the only kidney transplantation program in Brooklyn. Beyond its clinical expertise, Downstate houses a range of esteemed educational institutions, including its College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School of Health Professions, School of Graduate Studies, and School of Public Health. Downstate fosters innovation through its multifaceted biotechnology initiative, the Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT, which support early-stage and more mature biotech companies.