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New partnership-based Brooklyn health system forms with $700M from governor
A plan to unite Brooklyn hospitals and benefit longstanding medical institutions like Brookdale University Medical Center is moving
forward.
Consistent with the recommendations in Northwell Health's "The Brooklyn Study: Reshaping the Future of Healthcare," Brookdale
University Hospital Medical Center, Interfaith Medical Center and Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center have partnered together to create
One Brooklyn Health, which will serve as an integrated, central health care delivery system in Central Brooklyn.
Governor Andrew Cuomo on January 24 announced the award of $664 million in funding to One Brooklyn Health -- a new unified health
care system -- to support the state's ongoing efforts to transform the health care system and increase access to quality care throughout
Central Brooklyn, which is one of the most vulnerable areas in all of New York State, with measurably higher rates of obesity, diabetes
and high blood pressure, limited access to healthy foods or opportunities for physical activity, high rates of violence and crime, wide
economic disparities due to unemployment, and high poverty levels, and inadequate access to high quality health care and mental health
services.
The targeted investments will support the development of an expansive integrated ambulatory care network, significant infrastructure
modernization at each of the three hospital facilities, including regionalizing clinical programs and restructuring inpatient services, and
the creation of enterprise wide health information technology platform to improve coordination and delivery of care through an efficient,
high quality regional health care delivery system.
The announcement builds on the governor's transformative Vital Brooklyn initiative to improve the health care delivery system in Brooklyn.
"For far too long, chronic disparities in health care have contributed to systemic poverty in Central Brooklyn, and Vital Brooklyn is a
national model for tackling those challenges and addressing every facet of community wellness," Cuomo said. "This holistic investment
creates a sustainable, unified health care system to empower historically underserved communities, support health and wellness and
ensure a brighter future for the people of Brooklyn."
The funding includes $210 million to develop a 32-site ambulatory care network to increase access to primary and preventative health
care services. These new facilities are expected to add approximately 500,000 new ambulatory care visits a year, more than double the
number of visits that currently exist in the area.
The new ambulatory care network will include partnerships with four Brooklyn Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)—Bed Stuy
Family Health Center, ODA Crown Heights, Brightpoint Health, and the Brownsville Multi-Service Center—to expand primary care
capacity of community-based organizations; build programmatic bridges with SUNY Downstate and support the academic mission and
vision of University Hospital; integrate with new affordable housing developments to include on-site wellness amenities such as urgent
care, primary care and specialty practices; and create 255 new jobs and help recruit 300 primary care physicians to Central Brooklyn.
In addition, $384 million will be targeted at critical clinical and facility infrastructure improvements. Thanks to this funding, Brookdale
will undergo significant facility improvements to maintain its role in the community as a regional trauma center, including the development
of a new Emergency Department, expansion of its community health center to accommodate a new 30-bed Intensive Care Unit
(ICU), and development of additional patient care units expected to increase Brookdale's capacity by 100 beds.
Also thanks to this funding, Interfaith will renovate and expand its emergency department, as well as develop a Comprehensive Psychiatric
Emergency Program (CPEP) Unit supporting the integration of primary and behavioral health care services, and Kingsbrook Jewish
will evolve into a Medical Village with new and expanded ambulatory primary and specialty care, emergency services, and post-acute care
services.
A total of $142 million of the $384 million will be reserved to provide One Brooklyn Health flexibility in prioritizing its other clinical
and facility infrastructure improvement projects submitted in its application.
Finally, $70 million will create an enterprise wide Health Information Technology Platform to create a community-wide health information
technology system, which will enable the development of a single electronic health record system integrated across the three hospitals
and the provider care network.
This technology will effectively support clinical decision making, improve quality and patient care outcomes; develop effective care
management capabilities and create operating efficiencies; and enable uniform measurement of medical and social determinants and
standardize outcome measures to effectively gauge the success of interventions undertaken by the health system and its community
partners.
The funding is in addition to $320 million in annual operating support provided in the current budget, as well as $320 million in the
proposed executive budget for Brookdale, Kingsbrook and Interfaith, plus Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.
“This announcement addresses the critical need for access to health care in Central and Northeast Brooklyn,” said LaRay Brown, CEO
of One Brooklyn Health. “This significant investment in the One Brooklyn Health System highlights Governor Cuomo's continued strong
commitment to lifting up all New Yorkers. A healthy population is the foundation of any viable community and we applaud the Governor
and state legislators for recognizing that every New Yorker has a right to quality health care!"
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