Dive Brief:
- The financially-beleagured New York City Health & Hospitals Corp. on Tuesday revealed details of a plan to help firm up its financial position by 2020.
- CEO Ram Raju said that the city would double the number of people enrolled in the low-cost health plan MetroPlus, to one million, over the next five years; and that that system has set a goal to increase the number of patients it treats by 2020 to two million people.
- In November, the Citizens Budget Commission projected the hospital system's deficits would reach $1.7 billion in 2018—up from $702 million in fiscal 2015.
Dive Insight:
Raju's plan is still a little light on the details, although the exec stressed that patient satisfaction is the key to the system's strategic approach to financial improvement. HHC plans to reduce wait times by extending its weekend and evening hours, and will work to drop the wait for an initial pediatric clinic visit from 14 days to five. The system also aims to raise its inpatient and outpatient satisfaction scores—from 60% to 70% currently—to 80% for inpatient care and 93% for outpatient care by 2020.
HHC has also plans to have 80% of its MetroPlus members associated with a primary care physician by that year (51% currently have a primary care doctor).
The plan has the Healthcare Association of New York State's stamp of approval; the association called the proposal a "bold, new course to propel the system forward."