New York City public hospitals are now offering the extensive medical resources of the nation's largest municipal hospital system to private community physicians throughout the city.
HHC recently launched a multi-faceted program, HHC Connectx, to link local community physicians to a wide range of specialty services, as well as access to multilingual patient education tools, and secure patient information exchange between community providers and HHC’s 11 hospitals.
"Community physicians treat many of the 1.3 million patients we serve," said HHC President Alan D. Aviles. "Yet a large number of these local physician practices are not aware of the extensive specialty services we have for all New Yorkers, or how easily they can refer their patients to those services. With HHC Connectx, we will strengthen our partnership with community physicians and give them access to many of the benefits of our large system."
Physicians participating in HHC Connectx will gain efficient and coordinated access to HHC’s facilities. The program offers member physicians and their staff:
- A convenient and easy-to-use web-based tool for
referral management and patient tracking
- 24/7 access to fast-return critical diagnostic
test results and consultation reports
- Direct access to HHC’s extensive specialty care
centers and Centers of Excellence, like the Queens Hospital Cancer
Center, Jacobi Hospital Burn Center, Harlem Hospital Stroke Center and
Kings County Hospital Parkinson’s Disease Center
- A single contact to help navigate and simplify
the patient’s experience in our hospitals
- Medical education opportunities, including
presentations by leading clinicians on the latest medical advances and
best practices
- Notifications when patients miss an appointment with HHC specialists
"HHC Connectx is the link between my office and Kings County Hospital Center," said Dr. Anatole Barkan, a physician at Be Well Primary Health Care Center, LLC, a community physician practice in central Brooklyn. "Our Provider Relations Specialist at Kings County really knows me, my staff and my patients. It makes us feel like we are part of a single medical team."
The program's online referral system, HHCAdvantage, provides community physicians with 24/7 access.
"By computerizing the referral process and eliminating cumbersome paper documents we can accurately track every patient who is referred to one of our hospitals and provide the clinical feedback that doctors need to deliver care," said Irene Kaufmann, Senior Assistant VP, HHC Connectx. "HHC Connectx enables us to truly partner with community doctors and improve the continuity of care we deliver to our patients."
Building on its initial success as a pilot program at Queens Health Network, HHC Connectx has grown to include a member network of nearly 3,200 community-based providers across the city that facilitated more than 67,000 referrals in 2007.
Community healthcare providers interested in participating in HHC Connectx can visit nyc.gov/hhcconnectx or call (646) 458-2080.
June 2008
