A Year of Resolve: UHF's 2021 Annual Report The 2021 annual report highlights UHF’s activities during another year of challenge and uncertainty and offers a preview of our goals in the year ahead. The 2021 annual report highlights UHF's activities …
Responding to Fundamental Challenges Exposed and Exacerbated by COVID-19 Tony Shih's message from UHF's 2021 Annual Report. I write this message as we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, we were battered by the devastation wrought …
Federal Legislation Extends Important Benefit for New Yorkers in the Nick of Time After months of negotiations with recalcitrant U.S. Senator Joe Manchin on the Biden Administration's sweeping Build Back Better Plan, the enactment of the slimmed-down Inflation Reduction Act …
Educate, Influence, Transform: UHF's 2022 Annual Report The 2022 annual report highlights UHF's activities during a year of transition and new opportunities and offers a preview of our goals in the year ahead. This year's report presents examples of our …
Leveling Up: A Role for Health Plans in Improving Health Equity in New York The accompanying press release can be found here. Health plans are uniquely positioned to address health inequities as they are major employers, touch all aspects of …
We Need to Talk About Guns UHF President and CEO Oxiris Barbot, MD, on basic things we can all do to help stem the tragic toll of gun violence. Our recent report, produced in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group, draws …
Help Wanted: Employers to Help “Unwound” Workers Who Lost Public Health Coverage UHF’s Peter Newell examines how employers can help workers who lost public health coverage during the unwinding from the COVID-19 health emergency. In a national process known as …
Bronx Behavioral Health Integration Project and Patient-Reported Outcomes An overview of behavioral health screening and follow up in an urban primary care practice setting, and lessons for workflow and quality monitoring, are the focus of this PROPC-NY learning collaborative webinar …
Bridging the Gap: Moving from Planning to Routinization Guidance on testing and assessment to aid in the adoption of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures are offered in this webinar presentation from the PROPC-NY learning collaborative. Guidance on testing and assessment in quality …
Preventing Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection (CLABSI) in the Home Care Setting This toolkit offers practical approaches and tools for home care professionals and hospital acute care providers to systematically assess the risks for and reduce the incidence of central line–associated …
Setting the Stage for Payment Reform: Updating New York's Regulations on Risk Transfers Between Health Plans and Providers A timely look at New York's policies and regulations on risk-transfer agreements between insurance plans and health care providers, an increasingly common …
Presentations from "Medicaid in New York: Transforming the Delivery System" See presentations from the 2015 United Hospital Fund conference “Medicaid in New York: Transforming the Delivery System.” The presentations below were featured components of the United Hospital Fund conference Medicaid …
A Good Place to Grow Old This report, from the Fund's Aging in Place Initiative, describes a new model of care for the elderly: supportive service programs based in naturally occurring retirement communities. Exploring the programs, funding, and underlying partnerships …
Always on Call This book, first published in 2000 and now substantially updated, presents an intimate look at the world of family caregiving. The compelling narratives by caregivers capture the intensity of the caregiving experience, while chapters by noted health …
Family Caregivers on the Job This volume captures a year's worth of fruitful debate among experts convened from around the country to analyze the limitations of ADLs and IADLs and to explore alternatives. More than 27 million family caregivers in …
The Ripple Effect: The Impact of the Opioid Epidemic on Children and Families Recommendations for an action agenda based on a multidisciplinary meeting. Press release can be found here. Opioid addiction is well recognized as a national crisis, but the …
Achieving Payment Reform for Children Through Medicaid and Stakeholder Collaboration Harnessing payment reform to improve children's health The related press release can be found here. Overhauling payments for children's health care so that quality and outcomes are rewarded—rather than the …
Plan and Provider Opportunities to Move Toward Integrated Family Health A framework for integrated family health care The related press release can be found here. Family dynamics can influence the health of children in profound ways. Evidence also suggests the …
Reaching the Five Percent: A Profile of Western and Central New Yorkers Without Health Coverage Examining the eligible but uninsured in western & central New York State. The related press release can be found here. While New York's overall uninsured …
Reforming Payment for Children's Long-Term Health Lessons from New York State's value-based payment effort, focused on children's health care. Value-based payment approaches for children's primary health care services are urgently needed to improve quality of care, to incentivize the use …
Partnerships for Early Childhood Development: Year 2 Update PECD is a grant program and learning collaborative that helps child-serving primary care practices screen for and address unmet social needs through strong clinical-community partnerships. This report summarizes what was learned in …
Deliver Us from Texas: As the ACA Turns 10, Will the Supreme Court Step Up Again? Examining at a constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act, and reviewing the damage it might do to the ACA tools New York has …
NYSDOH Primary Care Quality Rating Stakeholder Workgroup: Final Recommendations Recommendations for designing more user-friendly and meaningful primary care provider profiles that could help inform the health care decisions New Yorkers commonly face. Participants from consumer advocacy groups, providers, payers, and …
Lessons from the Great Recession: New York Medicaid Enrollment During the COVID-19 Crisis New York State Medicaid enrollment trends during the Great Recession of 2007-2009, and the impact of state and federal actions taken then, and lessons for the current …
The Top Ten Things Caregivers Don't Want to Hear... Carol Levine, Director of the Fund's Families and Health Care Project, presents a collection of the kinds of unsolicited advice, unwelcome criticism, and undeserved praise that she and other caregivers receive …
Public Comment on Proposed Federal Rule on "Medicaid and CHIP Programs" This comment by Carol Levine, director of the Families and Health Care Project, was submitted in response to a new rule proposed by CMS. The comment below, by Carol …
Carer, Caregiver, What's in a Name? This commentary by Carol Levine was originally published on the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association's “Families and Health” blog. The following commentary, written by Carol Levine, director of the Families and Health Care Project, was …
Breaking a Fifty-Year Compact The approach taken by the latest health care proposal would break a 50-year federal-state compact and threaten New York's coverage and quality achievements. New York has overwhelmingly embraced the Affordable Care Act, taking advantage of subsidies …
Health Care's Circular Journey A look back over the past decades shows tremendous progress—and a would-be retreat that threatens the health care of millions. As I prepare to leave United Hospital Fund after 24 years, it's instructive to look back …
Initiative to Invest in Children Key to State's Prosperity Gov. Cuomo's “First 1,000 Days of Life Initiative” is good news for New York's children and families, write UHF President Anthony Shih, MD, and Patricia S. Levinson Fellow Suzanne Brundage, in …
New York Medicaid Program Outlines a Vision for Enhanced Pediatric Care Model New York State report puts forth a new vision for strengthening pediatric primary care. The New York State Medicaid program has released a report that puts forth a …
Pushing for Improvement One Step at a Time Improving the health care system is rarely about sweeping and dramatic changes. More often than not, progress is achieved through incremental steps. Health care policy has dominated the headlines for yet another …
COVID-19, Cities, and Health How can cities become more resilient? To effectively promote the health and well-being of city residents, there needs to be alignment of health care, transportation, education, housing, economic development, and other sectors. Population density is one …
Community Testing and Contact Tracing in a Time of Distrust Many New Yorkers cannot afford to get tested for COVID-19, lack necessary information, and face other barriers. What steps can be taken to reduce barriers to testing and to address …
A Post-COVID-19 Primary Care Agenda: First Steps The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vital importance, and the vulnerability, of primary care. This commentary suggests several actions to restore primary care and transform it in ways that will meet new demands. …
Post-Acute Care and COVID-19: An Already Fraught Decision Becomes Even More Difficult Informed decisions about post-acute care are even more urgent now, as the peril is far greater. This commentary describes the challenges surrounding post-acute care decisions and explains CMS's …
Struggling in the Time of COVID: Viewing the Pandemic Through the Eyes of a Frontline Health Care Worker Danyelle DiScala, a New York City social worker and member of 1199 SEIU, looks at important day-to-day issues facing many Americans during …
Health Insurance Coverage in New York, 2009 This wide-ranging analysis of New York’s health insurance coverage landscape in 2008-09 presents data in two parts: a “snapshot” highlighting coverage patterns; and a “chartbook” of detailed tables. Prepared by authors from the …
Provider-Payer Collaboration Could Strengthen Vaccine Adoption As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the U.S. and vaccines become more available, health plans can partner with physicians, hospitals, and community-based organizations to bolster vaccine adoption. Commentary by Karen Ignagni, President …
Working Toward a Brighter Future For many, 2020 will be remembered for unprecedented pain and suffering. Not only for the 20 million U.S. cases of COVID-19 and 350,000 deaths just last year alone, but also for the widespread misery caused …
Opportunities in a Time of Crisis: Launching Innovative Long-Term Care Programs During COVID-19 Stuart B. Almer, Gurwin Healthcare System president and CEO, writes about one of the few bright spots amid the devastation of COVID-19—the opportunity to leverage technology and …
Designing a Digital Platform to Monitor Health Status and Foster Trust Between Patients and Clinicians Developing a prototype for a new digital resource, How’s My Health Dashboard, which would help patients and health care providers work together to achieve health …
After the American Rescue Plan: Trick or Treat? As New York seeks to get out from under the COVID-19 virus and its variants, what further initiatives would help reach New Yorkers who still lack coverage, and will more federal help …
Transforming Primary Pediatric Care: Lessons Learned from PEDS Learning Network Health Equity Projects What is health equity and why does it matter? According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, health equity, at its most fundamental, means that everyone has a …
Opportunities to Improve Infant Health Through WIC To improve enrollment in WIC and help alleviate food insecurity, look to outreach models used during the pandemic--and figure out where interventions might yield the biggest effects. In New York State, nearly 13 …