United Hospital Fund Provides $383,000 for Grants to Improve Health Services in New York City

Release Date: 04.16.2010
Contact: rdeluna@uhfnyc.org
Contact Phone: 212 494 0733

The United Hospital Fund today announced six grants totaling $383,000 to improve health care services in New York City.  These strategic grants are a part of the approximately $2 million that the Fund distributes annually to support the development of model projects, sponsor research to analyze systemic problems, and foster innovative solutions.  Beneficiaries of the Fund’s grants include not-for-profit and public hospitals, nursing homes, and health care, academic, and public interest organizations.

Among the wide-ranging initiatives funded through these grants are programs to improve New York City’s online public health insurance renewal process; to analyze the policy implications of federal health reform in New York for people with serious illness and disabilities; to integrate effective palliative care services at New York City public hospitals and nursing homes; and to increase oral health prevention and treatment among older adults. 

“The United Hospital Fund has a long history of focusing on the needs of vulnerable populations, and these grants show our continuing commitment,” said James R. Tallon, Jr., president of the United Hospital Fund. “With these six grants, we’re targeting populations including low-income individuals and families, the elderly, the chronically ill and disabled, and certain immigrant communities.  Our aim is to test innovative models of care, models that could be replicated later on a broader scale.”   

Expanding Health Insurance Coverage
Coalition of New York State Public Health Plans/Children’s Defense Fund-New York ($65,000)
To improve New York City’s new online public health insurance renewal tool through consumer testing and literacy review.
An estimated 30 percent of enrollees in Medicaid, Family Health Plus, and Child Health Plus lose coverage when it comes time to renew. Renewal has, until recently, required the completion of various administrative tasks and an in-person interview, which can be onerous for some eligible individuals.  New York State is working to simplify the process of enrollment and renewal, and it will soon be possible for individuals to renew their coverage online.  To take advantage of this new development, New York City has developed an online renewal tool as part of its ACCESS NYC consumer website, and this grant will help increase the online tool’s success by ensuring that the tool is truly accessible and user-friendly for consumers.

New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage ($50,000)
To analyze the policy implications of federal health reform in New York for people with serious illness and disabilities.
People with serious illness and disabilities—who rely heavily on their health insurance, and often need to see out-of-network specialists—are particularly concerned about how certain provisions of federal health reform will have an impact on the affordability and availability of coverage that addresses their specific needs.  This grant will support the development of several policy briefs identifying and analyzing choices New York will have regarding implementation of reform, as well as a consumer guide comparing benefit packages and other coverage options for people with significant health care service needs.

Improving the Quality of Care
New York Botanical Garden ($50,000)
To improve the quality of health care for underserved Latino immigrant communities by educating and training health care professionals about plant-based medicines and other traditional remedies that are commonly used in the Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Mexican communities.
Certain Latino communities in New York have a system of care based on traditional beliefs and practices from their home countries.  The center of this system is often the botanica, where individuals receive spiritual and physical healing—often involving the use of medicinal plants.  Some individuals use these plant-based medicines in place of standard medical care.  Others visit physicians but may not mention the alternative remedies they are taking, which can interfere with prescribed drugs and treatments.  This grant will produce new materials to help educate and train physicians throughout the Bronx about Latino ethnomedicine and how to work with patients who follow these practices.

New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation ($100,000)
To integrate effective palliative care services at New York City public hospitals and nursing homes, and in home care settings.
Palliative care relieves suffering, improves the quality of life for patients with advanced illness, and provides support to families. This grant extends the Fund’s support of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation’s system-wide palliative care initiative. The initiative has made significant progress in recent years, and this new grant will help HHC continue its efforts to fully integrate palliative care in its acute care facilities and extend the program to its long-term care facilities and its home health care agency. Ongoing activities will include staff education, monitoring palliative care performance and quality at its 11 hospitals, and educating families about its palliative care services.

Redesigning Health Care Services
New York University College of Dentistry ($53,000)
To develop and evaluate a community-clinic referral model that aims to increase oral health prevention and treatment among older adults.
The U.S. Surgeon General has reported that there is a “silent epidemic” of oral diseases affecting the older adult population.  Yet, older adults have the lowest rate of dental visits of all adults over 18 and face barriers to oral health care services—such as Medicare’s lack of dental care coverage, inadequate  transportation, and a perception that the services are not needed by the older population.  This grant will pilot-test and evaluate an outreach and referral model that connects seniors in community service settings with dental services.

Project HEALTH NY ($65,000)
To expand the Family Help Desk program, which uses volunteer-based services in health clinics to help low-income families meet their housing, food, education, and other resource needs.
Low-income patients often face a variety of resource needs and challenges that can cause and perpetuate health problems.  Though physicians may recognize the importance of addressing these resource needs, they often lack the knowledge or capacity to connect patients with appropriate resources.  Project HEALTH  NY operates three Family Help Desks in New York City (at Bellevue and Harlem hospitals’ pediatric clinics, and NewYork-Presbyterian’s Washington Heights Family Health Center), which use college volunteers to help connect patients to resources and services such as food, housing, job training, fuel assistance, GED preparation, and health insurance.  This grant will allow Project HEALTH NY to enhance training modules for new and returning volunteers, evaluate volunteer performance, and develop an online database of local resources.

About the United Hospital Fund:  The United Hospital Fund is a health services research and philanthropic organization whose mission is to shape positive change in health care for the people of New York.

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