United Hospital Fund of New York

NEW: A brewing budget deal in Congress spells trouble for NY's health coverage gains, according to a new UHF Health Watch brief.    The potential deal—which may fund the extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act with deep reductions in federal Medicaid spending—will have a negative impact on New York State, health care providers, and the millions of New Yorkers who rely on Medicaid and Affordable Care Act programs for their health coverage, the brief notes. For many, possible health care premium increases will swallow tax decreases.    The Health Watch brief includes detailed tables showing the impact on families in three New York counties and in Arlington, Texas:    -For example, a Rockland County family of four with an income of $125,000 could see premiums rise by an estimated $19,500 annually, but a tax decrease of just $3,800.  -An individual in Arlington, TX earning about $20,000 annually would see premium increases more than triple the size of a tax decrease    Read the brief here: https://lnkd.in/dufjA9Aw

This #NationalPublicHealthWeek, UHF highlights the importance of New York City's public health funding. UHF was one of 80 organizations that sent a letter to state officials demanding the restoration of a public health investment known as Article 6, which was stripped in 2019. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ebYsRR6n

It's #MedicaidAwarenessMonth! Let's look at the numbers. In New York, Medicaid:     -Provides health insurance for nearly 7 million people  -Pays for 49% of births   -Covers 44% of children   -Pays for 64% of nursing home residents' care      Learn more about how Medicaid is vital to NY here: https://lnkd.in/eVSyT5dY      Or, check out UHF's public health insurance dashboards for more data: https://lnkd.in/eDVBDWEU 

Save the date! UHF's 2025 Annual Medicaid Conference will be held Wednesday, July 30 at the New York City Bar Association. The event will run from 8:30am to 4pm and include a keynote address by New York State Department of Health Medicaid Director Amir Bassiri Find out more: https://lnkd.in/eBQgmKNj

United Hospital Fund and Greater New York Hospital Association have welcomed Class 16 of the Clinical Quality Fellowship Program! The 29 fellows, who will be trained as the next generation of quality improvement leaders, celebrated the start of the program with a retreat in Armonk, NY over the weekend. Read more about the new class here: https://lnkd.in/ezQV5F2i

The importance of early childhood literacy is "front and center" at Harmony Healthcare Long Island's five Nassau County pediatric sites after a partnership with United Hospital Fund. “We, as pediatricians, know the outcomes for children who have literacy in their lives from day one—they turn out to be more financially successful, have better jobs, and overall have better health and well-being as a result,” said Suanne Kowal-Connelly, MD, director of pediatrics and pediatric clinical quality. “The bottom line is it helps people grow up healthier.” Harmony is one of 13 participants in UHF's literacy project, which helped integrate literacy strategies into pediatric practices. Read more about their project here: https://lnkd.in/eSh72h2s

A new proposed rule from the Trump administration would increase premiums and out-of-pocket costs for consumers and make it harder to enroll in Affordable Care Act plans. 750,000 to 2 million enrollees could lose coverage in 2026 alone, according to an estimate provided with the rule. https://lnkd.in/ejzpTn6b

READ IT: The seventh spotlight in our series on bridging quality and equity in health care examines the Brooklyn Health Equity Index (BKHI), developed by SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in partnership with One Brooklyn Health System (OBHS) and the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health. The spotlight series, the result of a 2022 UHF task force, chronicles how New York health care organizations connect quality and equity in their systems. The task force’s findings were released in a recent UHF report (find it at uhfnyc.org/publications). We hope these examples can offer other health care providers ideas for how to better bridge quality improvement and equity efforts. Read the spotlight below: https://lnkd.in/e_FYjpSS

United Hospital Fund announced today that it has selected Denise Arzola, LCSW, UHF’s director of clinical-community partnerships, as its 2025 Patricia S. Levinson Fellow.  “Denise brings invaluable knowledge, hands-on experience, and great passion to her work at UHF—and to our mission to build an effective and equitable health care system for every New Yorker,” said UHF president and CEO Oxiris Barbot, MD. “Her work is a fitting tribute to Patricia S. Levinson.” Created in 2017 with the support of the Robert A. and Patricia S. Levinson Award Fund at The New York Community Trust, the fellowship aims to advance UHF’s work improving health for underserved populations in honor of one of its most dedicated and longest-serving board members, Patricia S. Levinson. Ms. Levinson was a vice chair of UHF’s board at the time of her death in 2015.    https://lnkd.in/eJeTVKJt

"It’s so important to rely on trusted messengers to make it easy for people to get vaccinated and to have leaders that lead with the importance of vaccination. I can’t really overstate the importance of that," UHF President & CEO Oxiris Barbot, MD spoke with CNN about stopping the spread during NY's 2018-2019 measles outbreak. Measles outbreaks are currently growing in West Texas and New Mexico. Read the article here: https://lnkd.in/e7E_6Kz2