Find Out What’s Happening… News Briefs from Around VNSNY!
Welcome to the latest edition of “News Briefs from Around VNSNY”— featuring quick updates on recent news and happenings across the organization.
If you have any news or announcements that you’d like to submit for consideration in an upcoming edition, please click here.
CHHA Gets Four Stars from CMS!
VNSNY’s certified home healthcare agency (CHHA) received its first-ever 4-Star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Based on patient-care ratings in nine different quality categories, the 4-Star rating means that the CHAA is performing above average, as compared to the many thousands of certified home healthcare agencies across the U.S. This score is especially impressive because it reflects the CHHA’s performance in early 2021, at the height of the COVID pandemic with all its inherent challenges. “I want to thank everyone in the CHHA for everything you’ve done to help us achieve this best-ever rating,” says Andria Castellanos, Executive Vice President and Chief of Provider Services. “It takes an outstanding team effort to accomplish something like this, and I am grateful to all of you—our clinicians in the field, our branch directors, our clinical review managers and clinical field managers, and all our team members in supporting roles, as well as VNSNY’s leadership. I also want to thank Quality and Education for their ongoing collaboration and support.”
Provider of Choice Award for Partners in Care
More excellent news! Partners in Care’s Private Care Services has received a 2022 Best of Home Care – Provider of Choice Award from Home Care Pulse, an independent satisfaction-research firm for the home care industry. The designation is given to home care providers who have met or exceeded benchmark satisfaction scores for their geographic region, based on high ratings from clients and/or caregivers. “I’m so proud of our Private Care team, and in particular our outstanding home health aides, being recognized for their dedication to our clients’ experience and well-being while in our care,” says Jim Rolla, Senior Vice President and head of VNSNY Partners in Care. “It illustrates just how dedicated our team is, and how much appreciation our clients have for our commitment and empathy during such a difficult time.”
513 CHOICE Team Members Move to MSO
On January 1st, 2022, VNSNY launched its newest line of business, a Management Services Organization (MSO). The MSO provides health plan services to VNSNY CHOICE Health Plans as well as to other health plans, offering cost-effective solutions that deliver top-quality outcomes for health plan members while simplifying the healthcare experience for all. Prior to its launch, 513 CHOICE employees made a lateral move to the MSO, keeping their same jobs and titles. The new business entity also represents an important new chapter for VNSNY, since the MSO will allow the organization to expand into other markets—and states! It’s also expected to create new job openings both inside and outside of New York, offering advancement opportunities for employees who want to grow their careers at VNSNY. Kudos to all the new MSO team members for a smooth and exciting transition!
Inspiring Hope: The 2021 Strength from Within Campaign
VNSNY’s Strength from Within employee giving campaign continues to thrive, with 320 employees participating to raise $126,000 in 2021 to benefit the organization’s charitable care and community benefit programs. The campaign was boosted by a $50,000 matching pledge from VNSNY’s senior leadership. In December, dozens of VNSNY colleagues (and some of their family members!) also gathered for a Strength from Within Zoom bingo, which was not only lots of fun but raised additional funds for our programs.
Twenty-six employees played a vital role in the Strength from Within campaign by serving as Mission Champions, informing and engaging colleagues in their departments by highlighting VNSNY’s charitable mission and encouraging participation in the campaign. Click here to hear what some of our terrific Strength from Within VNSNY participants had to say.
Click here for a list of the Mission Champions and all those who generously donated!
Dr. Ritchell Dignam Honored with Excellence in Health Care Award
We’re proud to announce that Dr. Ritchell Dignam, Chief Medical Officer, Provider Services, is being honored by the United Hospital Fund (UHF) with a 2022 Excellence in Health Care Award for Quality Improvement Champions. The award recognizes extraordinary personal leadership in improving quality of care, patient safety, and/or patient experience. This year, the UHF focused on spotlighting leadership that had a direct impact on improving the effectiveness and/or equity of patient care. Dr. Dignam will receive her award at the UHF Tribute to Excellence in Health Care reception on May 9th at Cipriani 42nd Street in Manhattan.
Dr. Jay Dobkin Is Featured in Crain’s Health Pulse
Congratulations to Dr. Jay Dobkin, Chief Medical Officer, CHOICE Health Plans, who was included in Crain’s Health Pulse “At a Glance” news brief on World AIDS Day (December 1, 2021). The news item reports that, in recognition of his leadership in HIV/AIDS work, Dr. Dobkin received the Commissioner’s Special Recognition Award at the New York State Department of Health’s 23rd Annual World AIDS Day event.
VNSNY Participates in ACAP Initiative to Improve LGBTQI+ Health Equity
More than a million LGBTQI+ individuals receive healthcare coverage from Medicaid.
As the national discussion focuses increasingly on eradicating healthcare disparities, The Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP) has issued a report that explores the current status of health-equity efforts in Medicaid for LGBTQI+ individuals. We’re proud to report that VNSNY CHOICE was asked to participate in compiling this report. “ACAP reached out to us because of the work that our CHOICE SelectHealth plan has been doing to support the LGBTQI+ population and individuals living with or at risk for HIV,” says Ann Mary Ferrie, Director, Public Policy & Strategy. Ann Mary was interviewed for the project along with Arthur Fitting, LGBTQ Program Manager, and Shannon Whittington, Clinical Director of VNSNY’s Gender Affirmation Program. “We talked about the many ways in which we serve this community,” adds Ann Mary, “including credentialing, our relationship with community-based organizations, and our senior LGBTQI+ outreach and gender affirmation programs, with a focus on how we are addressing health equity and reducing healthcare disparities.”
Intranet Home Page Gets a Fresh, Streamlined Look
Great news! The new, better-organized and more user-friendly VNSNY Intranet home page is up and running! It still has all the links and access to content previously found on the home page—but it now has a streamlined look and is much simpler to use. You’ll find a wealth of valuable resources at your fingertips, from COVID-19 updates and vaccine information to HR Connect, Workday, Future of Work, and Condeco, our new tool for booking personal and meeting spaces. We’d also like to remind you that the Partners in Care Resource Center is a terrific source of information for our home health aides, who aren’t connected to the Intranet.
HHAX App Rolled Out to Home Health Aides
Last fall, Partners in Care started introducing HHAX—short for Home Health Aide Exchange—a smartphone app that provides home health aides (HHAs) with an all-in-one solution for case referrals, scheduling, mobile applications, human resources and compliance. “Over 2,000 HHAs are already using the HHAX app, which lets them clock in and out from their cases and track the completion of tasks on the plan of the care,” says Thomas Cocozza, Director of Operations, VNSNY Partners in Care. To support the use of HHAX, adds Thomas, Partners in Care has employees in the office available to assist in downloading and launching the app and help troubleshoot any issues once the app is downloaded. “We’re all excited by the terrific adoption rate of HHAX, and the benefits that the aides, their clients, and our organization as a whole are receiving from using it,” he notes. “Working together with our HHA population and back-office teams, we look forward to pushing this adoption rate—and our quality scores—even higher in 2022!”
Michelle Drayton Talks Hospice on NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) recently featured Michelle Drayton, Director for Hospice and Palliative Care Access, VNSNY, in a radio segment and related online article about the community benefits of a Black-owned hospice in Nashville. The segment also discusses how hospice agencies have been working to reduce barriers to care through their own diversity initiatives. Michelle mentions that VNSNY has been meeting with ministers who counsel families dealing with failing health, and is quoted on the importance of bridging the racial gap in educating communities of color about the benefits of hospice. Click here to view the article!
Dan Savitt and Andria Castellanos Are Named to PoliticsNY Power Players List
The website PoliticsNY named Dan Savitt, President and CEO of VNSNY, and Andria Castellanos, Executive Vice President and Chief of Provider Services, to their inaugural Power Players in Health Care list of the most influential people in New York healthcare.
Click here to check out Dan and Andria’s PoliticsNY profiles—and discover how they eat, work, and work out!
VBP Program Results in High Performance for CHOICE LHCSAs
In 2019, as part of a New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) initiative designed to give home health agencies incentives to provide higher quality and more efficient care, VNSNY CHOICE initiated Value-Based Payment (VBP) arrangements with five of its licensed home care services agencies partners: Partners in Care, Premier, Personal Touch, Alliance for Health, and People Care. “These arrangements included eight clinical quality measures, whereby the LHCSA providers could achieve a financial incentive for high-quality performance, or would be subject to a financial penalty for low-quality performance,” explains Christina Lomax, Director, Quality & Performance Improvement. CHOICE partnered with the LHCAs to improve their quality outcomes through real-time data sharing, monthly clinical and operational meetings, and extensive training and education.
The 2019 VBP performance results are now in, and they’re stellar. “Each one of our providers earned an incentive payment from CHOICE, for a combined total of $5.7 million,” says Christina. “This exciting outcome is a testament to the high quality of care these LHCSAs and their home health aides are giving to our members—and these incentive dollars will also really help them in recovering from the financial challenges brought on by pandemic.”
CMO to Expand Use of CareManagement Clinical Support Platform
On February 28th, VNSNY’s Care Management Organization (CMO) will roll out Wave 1 of its Case Rate program (consisting of Monte CMO, Metroplus and Humana PDGM, and including nearly 300 patients) on a new clinical support platform: Netsmart Technologies’ CareManager software system. The new system improves the ability of VNSNY’s care management teams to compile and analyze data across groups of clients, helping the CMO identify gaps in care and coordinate needed services for its clients. The CMO’s Post-acute program previously went live on CareManager in February 2021, while its Longitudinal Care program implemented the new platform in June 2021.
VNSNY Leaders Attend Home Care 100 Conference
From February 6th through 9th, a half-dozen members of VNSNY’s senior leadership attended the Home Care 100 Leadership Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. The group was headed by President and CEO Dan Savitt, and included Keith Patterson, EVP and Chief Financial Officer, Jennifer Brullo, SVP, Patient Care Services, Rose Madden-Baer, SVP, Population Health and Clinical Support Services, Devin Woodley, VP, Managed Care Contracting, and Marsha Ramos, VP, Regional Patient Care Services. Attendees could participate in various informational sessions and also had a chance to meet with counterparts at other national home care and hospice organizations. In addition, Rose shared a presentation with conference-goers on “The Longitudinal Touch,” which discussed how the VNSNY Care Management Organization’s Longitudinal Program focuses on proactive care management to prevent hospitalizations and minimize the burden of complex illness.
SelectHealth Achieves Highest Quality Scores Ever
VNSNY CHOICE’s SelectHealth special needs plan, which serves New Yorkers who are living with HIV, transgender, or homeless, is the leading program of its kind in the state, according to the Department of Health’s recent quality ratings. The quality scores, the best ever received by SelectHealth, top the scores of New York’s two other similar plans, AmidaCare and Metroplus. “It’s an incredible accomplishment,” said Hany Abdelaal, President of VNSNY CHOICE.
The quality measures span three key areas: clinical care—including primary care, behavioral health, and HIV care; consumer experience; and administrative/compliance metrics. The most heavily weighted metric is viral load suppression, which indicates whether an individual has his or her HIV under control. SelectHealth’s excellent viral load suppression rate of 84 percent is higher than those of its two New York competitors. “This success in our viral load suppression allows our diverse members to live their lives in a healthy way without being burdened by disease,” notes Mihriban Brickner, SVP and Chief Quality and Performance Improvement Officer.
To read previous News Briefs from Around VNSNY, click here.
