Organizational News
Latest Organizational News
Over 70 Team Members Created the Most Amazing Consumer Experiences!
June 13, 2023–You can read them all here in our most recent batch of Letters and Commendations. Our VNS Health team members continue to prove how empathetic, resilient, dedicated and, really, how just plain amazing VNS Health team members are! The following are excerpts from a few of the many recent letters, phone calls, and emails we’ve received from grateful patients, members and clients as well as family members that reflect an outstanding consumer experience. For patient letters and member commendations by geography, click on the area below: Bronx “Very professional and has a great personality.” “She was outstanding!” said a patient who called to give a glowing review of home health aide Faith Wilson. “She was very helpful with all my needs, very professional and has a great personality.” “Guidance, patience, coaching, and support.” A patient called to praise physical therapist, José Hernandez. “He was so professional,” she said. “I appreciated his guidance,
Wow! Check Out All the Awards VNS Health Team Members Have Won Since January!
June 6, 2023–The first half of 2023 brought an extraordinary amount of recognition and success to our team members and programs here at VNS Health! Over that time, we’ve received a variety of awards and honors that put a spotlight on the important contributions and efforts our teams make each day. Let’s give a big round of applause for everyone who has been recognized—and for this truly remarkable list of accomplishments! Click on the links below to read more about each honor. June 2023: It has been announced that Arthur Fitting, VNS Health LGBTQ Program Manager, will be included on the 2023 LGBTQ Power Players List, published yearly by PoliticsNY, Gay City News and amNY Metro. The list honors New York’s LGBTQ+ leaders in government and policymaking, education, health care, corporate industry, and social and civic advocacy. To read more, click here. In addition, Shannon Whittington, Clinical Director, Gender Affirmation Program, and
VP of Managed Care Contracting, Devin Woodley Speaks with Home Health Care News on Breaking into Value-Based Care
May 31, 2023–
Making a Difference: VNS Health Nurses Share Some of Their Most Memorable Cases
May 23, 2023–May is National Nurses Month. Every day, VNS Health nurses make a tremendous impact on the people, families, and communities we serve. The theme of this year’s National Nurses Month is “Making a Difference.” With that in mind, we asked ten VNS Health nurses to recall an experience in which they made a difference in their patients’ lives—and vice versa. As you’ll see, every one of these stories features a component of one of our Core Values—Empathy, Agility, and Integrity. To read a specific individual’s story, click on their name or scroll below. “I’m so glad that my instincts were correct. This is just one of the many rewarding parts of what I do.” Antoinette Brown, RN, Home Care, Bronx “A little over a decade ago I had a patient who had cancer, and who’d been in and out of the hospital. At one point the doctors told her that
VNS Health’s Dan Savitt, Hany Abdelaal and Andria Castellanos Honored as Crain’s 2023 Notable Healthcare Leaders
May 15, 2023–
Team Members in the News: April Highlights!
May 11, 2023–This past April, VNS Health team members and programs from across the organization were in the limelight in myriad news and feature stories. From Hospice Care to Occupational Therapy, and so much more, VNS Health experts and leaders are at the forefront of the conversation! Team members featured this month include: Dazel Gamit, Hospice RN Cecile Hall, Occupational Therapist Carol Odnoha, Director, VNS Health Nurse-Family Partnership Dan Savitt, CEO and President Bernadette Timko, Occupational Therapist Milena Zaprianova, Clinical Manager, Hospice Care Team CEO and President Dan Savitt Shares Advice on Organizational Growth in Home Health Care News CEO and President Dan Savitt was featured in Home Health Care News in an article where industry leaders weigh in on mistakes they commonly see when it comes to organizational growth, as well as ways companies can foster acceleration. Read the whole piece, “5 Home Health Leaders Weigh in on the Growth Mistakes
Spring News Briefs: Catch Up on What’s Happening Around VNS Health!
May 10, 2023–Spring is here! And so is the latest edition of News Briefs—a quick and easy way to catch up on news, updates, and happenings across the organization over the past few months. If you have any news or announcements that you’d like to submit for consideration in an upcoming edition, please click here. SelectHealth Reports No Disruptions in Care Due to NYS Medicaid Pharmacy Carve-Out As of April 1, New York State’s Medicaid pharmacy benefit is now being administered by NYRx, the state’s Medicaid fee-for-service entity, and is no longer a part of Medicaid’s managed care benefits. For VNS Health, the biggest concern around this shift was its potential impact on members of our SelectHealth Medicaid HIV Special Needs Plan, who typically take multiple medications to keep their HIV viral loads low. Thanks to extensive preparations, however, the transition has gone smoothly. “Our team members have worked hard to ensure
Meet Meet the 12 Newest Graduates of VNS Health’s Process Improvement Course!
May 10, 2023–Last November, 12 VNS Health team members became the latest graduates of the organization’s Process Improvement Course (PIC) Series. This two-month, four-class course is facilitated by Adam Lefebvre, Director of Process Improvement. Since it began several years ago, the series has graduated 11 cohorts, each made up of team members from across VNS Health. “Course participants learn the basics of Lean Six Sigma problem-solving methodology, and then apply it to a project within their work area,” explains Adam. “Best of all, they leave the program with the tools to lead further process improvement efforts across the organization.” (VNS Health also offers a six-month Lean Six Sigma certification program for team members, which you can read about here.) “This course helped me to see the importance of reviewing our work more deeply and finding areas where waste can be reduced and processes can be made more seamless,” says recent PIC graduate
Congratulations to Our Third Generation of Lean Six Sigma Green Belts!
May 4, 2023–VNS Health is now in its third year working with Lean Six Sigma—a set of management tools that help organizations to operate more efficiently and improve the quality of their services and products. Building on the success of previous years, Tony Dawson, Chief Quality Officer for Provider Services, recently took a new group of 24 VNS Health team members through a six-month course that prepared them to be certified as Lean Six Sigma Green Belts. “Our latest cohort did a tremendous job,” Tony reported. “Besides gaining valuable skills in how to analyze tough problems and develop solutions, they also learned to negotiate, compromise and communicate with each other.” For their final projects, course participants broke into five smaller groups to put their learnings into action as they tackled specific issues in VNS Health’s operations. To read summaries of these final projects along with the names of our newest Green Belts,