Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 12, 2012 

HHC President & CEO Alan D. Aviles Appointed to National Patient Safety Foundation Board of Directors

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the nation’s largest municipal healthcare system, today announced that HHC President and CEO Alan D. Aviles has been appointed to the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) Board of Directors. As a member of the NPSF Board of Directors, Mr. Aviles will provide strategic and operational oversight and is vested with fiduciary responsibilities for the Foundation.

“As a passionate advocate of patient safety in my own organization, I am honored to join the board of this esteemed organization that plays such an important role in the national movement to improve patient safety,” said Aviles.

“We are extremely pleased and honored to welcome Alan Aviles and other distinguished health care leaders to our boards,” said NPSF President Diane C. Pinakiewicz, MBA, CPPS. “They each bring a wealth of experience, knowledge, and a proven commitment to patient safety to their new roles, and join a remarkable group of visionaries who continue to serve on the NPSF boards. We look forward to their unique perspectives and contributions.”

As President and Chief Executive Officer of HHC since February 2005, Alan Aviles is the longest-serving executive in this role in HHC’s history. Under Aviles’ steady leadership, HHC has been increasingly recognized as a high-performing organization that annually provides safe, high quality care to 1.4 million New Yorkers, including nearly 480,000 uninsured.

In recent years, HHC and its various facilities have received numerous awards and recognitions, including the John M. Eisenberg Award from the National Quality Forum for innovation in patient safety and quality, the Codman Award for Quality from the Joint Commission, the Nicholas Davies Award (twice) for excellence in clinical IT, and three quality-related awards from the American Hospital Association.

The Healthcare Association of New York State recently has twice recognized HHC with its annual Award for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, once for Violence Reduction Protocol in psychiatric services, and most recently for its innovations in reducing obstetrical complications. And the Commonwealth Fund has profiled HHC as a high-performance healthcare system based on its advanced use of clinical information systems, effective chronic disease management, collaborative team work to implement clinical best practices, and commitment to a patient-centered healthcare delivery model.

Aviles also serves on the Boards of the Greater New York Hospital Association, the Healthcare Association of New York State, the American Hospital Association, the Primary Care Development Corporation, and Public Health Solutions. He also is a member of the Executive Committee of the National Association of Public Hospitals, and a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. He is a recipient of the 2012 Healthcare Leaders of New York (HLNY) Award of Distinction, Modern Healthcare magazine’s CEO IT Achievement Award, and in 2011 was named, for the third time, one of Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare. Aviles’ appointment to the NPSF Board was effective June 1, 2012.

Contact: Ian Michaels (HHC) (212) 788-3339

About the National Patient Safety Foundation

NPSF has been pursuing one mission since its founding in 1997–to improve the safety of care provided to patients. As a central voice for patient safety, NPSF is committed to a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach in all that it does. NPSF is an independent, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. To learn more about the work of the National Patient Safety Foundation, please visit www.npsf.org.

About HHC

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) is a $6.7 billion integrated healthcare delivery system with its own 420,000 member health plan, MetroPlus, and is the largest municipal healthcare organization in the country. HHC serves 1.4 million New Yorkers every year and more than 475,000 are uninsured. HHC provides medical, mental health and substance abuse services through its 11 acute care hospitals, four skilled nursing facilities, six large diagnostic and treatment centers and more than 70 community based clinics. HHC Health and Home Care also provides in-home services for New Yorkers. HHC was the 2008 recipient of the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission's John M. Eisenberg Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/hhc or find us on facebook.com/nycHHC or twitter.com/HHCnyc.