SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The New York State Department of Health has selected HealtheConnections of Syracuse as a regional contractor for its Population Health Improvement Program (PHIP).
HealtheConnections will use an award of $2.4 million over the next two years to work with partners and stakeholders in Onondaga, Oswego, Oneida, Madison, Cayuga, and Cortland counties in executing PHIP responsibilities.
The state Health Department announced the contractors on Dec. 5. HealtheConnections announced its involvement in a news release distributed last Friday.
In support of the initiative, HealtheConnections plans to add four new jobs, according to Rob Hack, executive director of HealtheConnection in response to an email inquiry from the Business Journal News Network.
The organization currently employs 21 people, Hack noted.
As the PHIP contractor for the six Central New York counties, HealtheConnections says it will support local strategies that “promote population health and reduce health-care disparities” in support of the state’s prevention agenda and the state health-innovation plan.
HealtheConnections plans to be the nexus for data management and analytics; convening stakeholders to share best practices; identifying gaps; prioritizing, developing, and deploying regional initiatives; ensuring that health equity and workforce issues are addressed; and reporting county and regional progress toward state goals, according to the news release.
The PHIP resulted from a proposal in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2014 State of the State address and reflects the recommendations of the state Health Department’s Public Health and Health Planning Council.
The PHIP “empowers communities” to find ways to improve the health of their populations through “focused stakeholder engagement,” according to the news release.
“This award further strengthens the overall view and position of HealtheConnections as the regional convener, collaborator and provider of regional health care improvement and transformation support services with Central New York health care stakeholders and New York state,” Rob Hack, executive director of HealtheConnections, said in the news release. “We are pleased to leverage our current work as Central New York’s regional health information organization (RHIO) to support broader health care transformation and efficiency initiatives that promote and achieve the triple aim of better care, better population health and lower health care costs.”
HealtheConnections says it provides health-information exchange (or HIE) services and population health-improvement support services for the 11 counties of the Central New York region.
The HealtheConnections regional health-information organization (or RHIO) is a qualified entity of the State Health Information Network of New York (or SHIN-NY), according to its news release.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com