In State of HHC Address HHC President Alan D. Aviles Proposes Greater Transparency, Increased Patient Safety and More Effective Chronic Disease Management

City’s public hospitals will build on past accomplishments to move safety net initiatives forward

In his second annual Year in Review presentation to the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) Board of Directors, HHC President Alan D. Aviles reviewed the past year’s accomplishments and framed an ambitious agenda for the coming year that builds on the gains made in quality of care initiatives, patient safety, investment in cutting edge technology and re-building the infrastructure to secure the future of New York City’s safety net health care system.

“We can look back on the past year with considerable pride,” said HHC President Aviles. “Looking forward, our strategic initiatives are directed to provide safer care that prevents unnecessary harm to our patients, to provide more effective care that better manages chronic disease, and to provide more preventive care that averts disease or that diagnoses disease at an early stage.”

HHC President Aviles announced that in 2007 HHC would seek to:

• Increase transparency of quality and safety measures via HHC’s redesigned website to make it easy for the public to compare HHC data with other hospitals;
• Expand the capacity of WTC Environmental Healthcare Center at Bellevue Hospital;
• Launch a cervical cancer education and awareness campaign, and make the new HPV vaccine available to young women and adolescents;
• Redouble rapid HIV testing efforts to reach at least 150,000 patients;
• Increase the number of patients whose diabetes is well-controlled through the use of the electronic registry which currently monitors more than 50,000 diabetics;
• Hire Chronic Disease Management Coordinators for each facility to help direct the complex care of patients with diabetes, asthma, and congestive heart failure;
• Increase the number of patients screened and treated for depression;
• Support increased access to out-patient care services in the borough of Staten Island;
• Expand U.N.- style remote simultaneous translation services; and
• Expand the palliative care - dying with dignity program to more hospitals.

“We will continue to move forward aggressively to fulfill our mission,” said HHC President Aviles. “We view that mission as not merely affording access to the most vulnerable among us, but doing our best to provide our patients with the most efficient, effective and safe patient-centered care possible. And as we look to the future, we hope that the growing drumbeat about the need for universal healthcare coverage actually takes us in that direction. Until we get there, however, HHC – the public’s hospital system – continues to be the next best thing…. and we are going to continue making it even better.”

The full text of HHC President Aviles’ 2007 Year in Review remarks may be viewed at nyc.gov/hhc.

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), the largest municipal hospital and health care system in the country, is a $4.9 billion public benefit corporation that serves 1.3 million New Yorkers and nearly 400,000 who 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 80 community based clinics. For more information about HHC, visit nyc.gov/hhc.