NuHealth Receives $18 Million Heal NY Grant

Arthur A. Gianelli, President and CEO of the NuHealth System, recently announced that the NuHealth System is the recipient of an $18M Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers (HEAL NY) capital funds grant from the state of NY Department of Health to restructure its care delivery model.

The grant is in response to the submission to the state’s Request for Applications.

“We have an exciting opportunity, through this grant, the largest on LI and one of the largest in the state in a fiercely competitive grant process, to restructure our care delivery model and improve the health outcomes of Nassau’s most vulnerable populations,” Gianelli said. “This grant is critical to transforming our health system to meet the demands of health reform, helping to jumpstart our transformation through the elimination of unnecessary inpatient capacity, expansion off primary care and chemical dependency outpatient services. It is also a first step in facilitating a clinically integrated collaboration with the North Shore-LIJ Health System.”

The state issued an RFA in November 2011 to encourage vulnerable providers to restructure their operations to achieve financial stability, establish collaborative affiliations, and improve the health outcomes of the populations they serve. NuHealth sought these funds as part of an overall proposal to reduce inpatient beds (by reducing the number of unnecessary admissions, ambulatory sensitive admissions, and readmissions), expand primary care and addiction outpatient capacity, develop a care management infrastructure, and build IT interfaces with NSLIJ to facilitate clinical integration.

NuHealth is a public benefit corporation charged with running the , the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility and various health centers, co-operated with the LI Federally Qualified Health Center, Inc. It is a safety net provider in Nassau County, delivering care in 33 Federally Designated Medically Underserved Areas and with a payer mix heavily dominated by Medicaid beneficiaries and the uninsured.

“This grant will position NuHealth to succeed in the context of health reform, help to foster closer integration with NS-LIJ and improve the delivery of coordinated, cost effective care in the appropriate settings to Nassau’s vulnerable populations,” concluded Gianelli.

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