On Tuesday, November 12th, SI PPS Executive Director, Joseph Conte, joined Blooming Health CEO, Nima Roohi, alongside other Social Care Network (SCN) leaders to discuss the New York State 1115 Health Equity Waiver at Blooming Health’s event. The event focused on preparing Social Care Networks for success to serve 7 million Medicaid members across New York.

Other panelists included:

• Amie Parikh, CEO, Hudson Valley Care Coalition
• Zachariah Hennessey, Chief Strategy Officer & EVP, Public Health Solutions
• Lori Andrade, Executive Vice President, Health & Welfare Council of Long Island

Dr. Joseph Conte, Executive Director of SI PPS and Ileana Acosta, Program Director of the Hotspotting the Overdose Epidemic Program, presented at the NCQA Health Innovation Summit in Nashville, TN on November 1st 2024. They were joined by Raj Lakhanpal, Chief Executive Office of Spectramedix and Michael LaRocca, Founder and CEO of Ready Computing. The Health Summit features over 60 sessions covering a range of health care quality topics, including value-based care, health equity, digital quality solutions and behavioral health.  SI PPS presented on its Hotspotting Program initiative, which is an evidence-based, overdose prevention and outreach initiative. The program leverages predictive analytics and data to identify individuals at-risk of overdose and engage them before an adverse event using a person-centered care management model.  The panel presentation yielded hundreds of participants; the session examined how the program was conceived and implemented, and how Hotspotting can be a promising approach to save lives.

What is Samaritan?

Samaritan is a support network that helps people overcome barriers to housing. The Samaritan community has helped more than 1,000 unhoused individuals take steps towards housing across the US.

Samaritan works by partnering with organizations across the nation that are serving unhoused or housing insecure populations. Our partners can use Samaritan to incentivize steps towards health and housing goals and accelerate outcomes for their clients.

 

Mindy Mannarino, a Care Navigational Manger with Staten Island Performing Provider System, expressed her appreciation for the role Samaritan plays in assisting in her client caseload. “Once you get a client interested and you can get them enrolled, they are floored that a health insurance company collaboration would offer something like this. They’re usually pretty enthusiastic!” Mindy highlighted the distinct advantage Samaritan provides compared to other health programs. “It’s nice to be able to offer something like this because for some of the other programs, you’re not offering an incentive,”she explained. “You’re just kind of saying, ‘Oh, you know, you should do this and you should do that.’ So this is much better.”

When asked about the effectiveness of Samaritan’s Action Steps and Bonuses, Mindy pointed out how these elements have had a tangible impact on clients’ health management. “A lot of folks go to appointments, They try to do all the follow-ups that they need to do,” she said, noting that many of her clients deal with conditions like type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

Mindy observed that the incentive structure encourages patients in their personal goals. “It’s interesting, some people said it motivated them to actually set up these appointments, The Members found that this was like an incentive to be more on top of their own health.”

The bonuses, Mindy noted, have been particularly beneficial. “I do notice that the people who indicated, like, ‘I’m really going to use this to buy food,’ they really stick to that,” 

“They are always very thankful and grateful to Samaritan for giving them the opportunity to do this,” she said. “It helps some people feel like it’s more of a priority to take care of their health, because then maybe they can eat a little healthier because they have this extra money.”

Mindy remains optimistic about Samaritan’s ongoing impact. Her experiences illustrate how the program not only provides essential support to those in need but also inspires clients to use their Action Steps toward managing their health effectively.

 

More information about Samaritan can be found on their website: https://www.samaritan.city/

For the past seven years, Staten Island Performing Provider System (SI PPS) has been training Community Health Workers (CHWs). SI PPS is an apprenticeship sponsor and has trained over 200 CHWs in New York City and Long Island. SI PPS partners with employers to graduate trainees by providing additional support such as mentorship, transportation stipends, financial incentives, and job preparation. College of Staten Island is the key training partner to offer a certified community health worker training program.

SI PPS has been designated as a Social Care Network released which was announced by Governor Hochul on August 7, 2024. Social Care Networks will address health disparities in low-income communities by leveraging federal funding to connect Medicaid members to nutritional meals, housing supports, transportation and other social services. CHWs will be an integral member connecting Medicaid members to services to impact the individual’s overall health.

This week is National Community Health Worker Awareness week. Staten Island Performing Provider System is an apprenticeship sponsor and would like to acknowledge the great work being done by our partnering employers and apprentices in Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Long Island.

A Community Health Worker (CHW) is a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member or has a particularly good understanding of the community served. CHWs are some of the most trusted voices in the community when it comes to health because they come from the communities they serve. And they are one of the best ways to tackle health inequity and health disparities.

CHWs serve as a liaison between health and social services and the community to facilitate access to services and to improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery. CHWs can operate under many different titles including Patient Navigator, Community Health Advisor, Maternal/Infant Health Outreach Specialist, Peer Educator, etc.

One of the CHWs that SI PPS sponsored was Crystal Deleon from Community Health Center of Richmond (CHCR). Crystal leads the Enhanced Postpartum Care Project for CHCR. She creates postpartum plans for the fourth trimester alongside patients. Crystal also provides follow-up postpartum check-ins, educational workshops on childbirth for expecting mothers, safe sleep, and breastfeeding. Crystal said “The most rewarding part of her Community Health Worker apprenticeship is reconnecting with mothers and checking in after they deliver the baby”.

In addition to CHCR, there are several employers that we would like to highlight for the CHW apprenticeship. These partners offer services for the homeless, individuals living with HIV, and people with chronic conditions. These are the partners we have worked with for the CHW program:

1. A Chance in Life

2. AIRnyc

3. Central Family Life Center

4. Community Health Action of Staten Island

5. Community Health Center of Richmond

6. Long Island Coalition for the Homeless

7. Harmony Healthcare Long Island

8. Maimonides

9. Make the Road New York

10. Project Hospitality

11. Staten Island Partnership for Community Wellness

The SI PPS CHW training program has 3 phases:

1. The first phase is all virtual. This is the CHW training program provided by College of Staten Island, held 3 evenings per week on Zoom, for 8 weeks. Each session meets for 2-3 hours.

2. The second phase provides upskilling for an additional 5 weeks with three evenings per week virtually on Zoom. Each session meets for 2-3 hours.

3. The third phase is all in-person and is a 6-week on-the-job training program at clinical partner sites such as hospitals, federally qualified health center and/or an ambulatory care center. $600-$1,200 stipend available for trainee.

This past year, Staten Island Performing Provider System (SI PPS) sponsored the Lay Counselor training. The Lay Counselor Academy provided a 14-week course for lay counselors who are people without traditional mental health education but can complete the Lay Counselor Academy training to learn how to provide crucial support to community members in need.

SI PPS will continue to sponsor training programs so if you or anyone you know are interested, please reach out to Connor Stapleton at cstapleton@statenislandpps.org to find out more details. We are accepting applicants until 9/9/24.

Join the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy, Staten Island PPS, and partners for a healthy cooking class! You can also join us for a virtual information session about the Hunger Free Campus Act. Details below. Register here.

 

Join Northwell Health for our job fair on Tuesday, July 11 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra University/Northwell, 500 Hofstra Blvd., Hempstead, NY. Learn more and register here: High School Graduate Job Fair – July 2023 (ttcportals.com)

 

What is an ETS Sponsorship?

When a service member conducts a permanent change of station (PCS), they receive a ‘PCS sponsor’ from their new military installation. ETS sponsors strive to fill a similar role for service members as the service member prepares to exit the military and move to their post-military hometown. Sponsors possess a unique
understanding of their hometown and are connected to resources. They conduct virtual sponsor sessions until the service member exits the military, focusing on specific transition goals. Post transition, sponsors meet face-to-face with the transitioned service member at coffee stores (free coffee and meal) or convenient locations to refine their goals.

Learn more about how you can become an ETS Sponsor here.

Covid-19 has underscored in stark terms, that where we live, learn, work and worship affect how the pandemic impacts a community. Individuals in urban settings, people of color and those affected by disparities suffered far more disease prevalence and mortality than other populations. According to The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America our zip code impacts our health and future wellbeing more than our genetics. There is ample research to suggest that social determinants of health (SDOH) factors may contribute to as much as 50-60% of a person’s healthcare costs. Yet the use of technology to bridge this gap has been narrowly deployed and meeting these needs, once assessed, is often poorly executed. This brief article from Xplorex IT, written by Joseph Conte, PhD, Executive Director, Anyi Chen PhD, Chief Information Officer, Ashley Restaino, MPH, Managing Director, Strategic Initiatives & Operations, covers how technology can be leveraged to engage underserved clients to address their social needs during the pandemic.

Dear Healthcare Provider,

 

As of Monday, January 4, 2021 the following groups can now receive the COVID-19 vaccination (more information can be found here https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-vaccine-information-providers):

• All Outpatient/Ambulatory front-line, high-risk health care workers of any age who provide direct in-person patient care, or other staff in a position in which they have direct contact with patients (i.e., intake staff), will be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccine. This includes, but is not limited to, individuals who work in private medical practices; hospital-affiliated medical practices; public health clinics; specialty medical practices of all types; dental practices of all types; dialysis workers; diagnostic and treatment centers; occupational therapists; physical therapists; speech therapists; phlebotomists; behavioral health workers; and student health workers.
• All front-line, high-risk public health workers who have direct contact with patients, including those conducting COVID-19 tests, those handling COVID-19 lab specimens and those directly engaged in COVID-19 vaccinations, will be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccine.If you have not already made arrangements with a hospital system or Federally Qualified Health Center, we wanted to inform you that you can reach out to one of our SI FQHCs and make an appointment.

 

1. H+H Gotham Vanderbilt– The process for scheduling with them is via this link: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-vaccine-locations.pageContact: SueLing Lee
   165 Vanderbilt Avenue
   Staten Island, NY 10304
   (718)616-0955
2. Sun River Health- Contact Dr Atith Patel at atpatel@sunriver.org  929-474-0282 or Ashley Awn aawn@sunriver.org, 855-681-8700, ext 4444
3. *Beacon has closed form and appointments for this week but will reopen as soon as they get a new shipment. See their process below.Beacon Christian Community Health Center has begun offering the vaccine starting Monday, January 4 by appointment. To help set up the appointments, Beacon is asking for interested individuals to complete the following google form at this link: https://forms.gle/wJiSVdoMHVgHuLmx8After completing their information, Beacon staff will contact respondents to schedule their appointment.  (Beacon can only provide vaccines to individuals who are in the Priority 1A group.)  

If you have any questions, please contact NYC REACH at nycreach@health.nyc.gov.

In reflecting back on Staten Island PPS’s achievements as this chapter of DSRIP comes to an end, the most successful initiatives that result in improved care to individuals, organizational excellence and population health improvement start more often in the lunchroom than the board room. This is dedicated to our partners who did the hard work, implemented the programs, cared for the people who needed it most, when they needed it most and get up every day and do it again. This is in recognition of their passion and singular effort. Read the full article here.