NYHealth’s 2021 Progress Report

Progress

• Secured universal access to Veterans Treatment Courts (VTCs). A new State law enacted in March means that any justice-involved veteran in New York State who has a mental health and/or substance use disorder has the opportunity to stay out of jail and receive social and other supports that have been shown to lead to more successful life outcomes.

• Testified before New York State and City legislators on various issues, including:
  • Increasing food security and food equity in New York State
  • Addressing mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Strengthening the New York State Division of Veterans’ Services, the importance of veterans’ treatment courts, and mental health services for veterans in response to COVID-19.
  • Understanding the relationship between high health care spending and excessive variation in prices.

Progress

• Selected five organizations from across the State for the “Patients as Partners: Advancing Equity” program, a $1 million grantmaking initiative. The cohort will undertake projects giving patients of color a meaningful role in their health care at the individual and system levels. The efforts are focused on high-priority issues ranging from older adults in prison, to maternal and child health, to racial inequities in patient experience.
• All staff participated in ongoing training about implicit bias and bias mitigation.
• A staff-led committee selected and engaged a consultant to assess and improve NYHealth’s racial health equity efforts. The engagement will continue in 2022 with targeted coaching and support at the department level across the organization.

Progress

Launched NYHealth’s Healthy Food, Healthy Lives priority area in 2021. Inaugural year efforts included:

• A Request for Proposals elicited more than 200 applications; 9 diverse projects from across the State are now underway.

• Supporting regional and local healthy food system planning and coordination in the North Country, New York City, Southern Tier, Western New York/Finger Lakes, and Hudson Valley.

• NYHealth and other funders provided private matching funds for the Field and Fork Network to be eligible for federal dollars. USDA and private funds totaling an additional $1.6 million will allow for a large-scale expansion of the Double-Up Food Bucks nutrition incentive program.

• Testing and scaling Food as Medicine programs, including a medically tailored meals programs for veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and a fruit and vegetable prescription program for children.

Progress

• A policy priority is to harness the scale and power of institutional food purchasing to make large-scale change. A statewide coalition is educating stakeholders on more flexible food procurement policies so cities and public institutions can participate in the Good Food Purchasing Program.

Progress

• A cohort of NYHealth-supported organizations implemented OpenNotes in their community health centers to make doctors’ clinic notes accessible and actionable for thousands of New Yorkers.
• Since 2016, we have worked with hospitals to implement OpenNotes. In 2021, NYHealth again invited hospitals throughout the State to apply for funding and technical assistance to implement open notes programs that meaningfully engage patients and families. Although the level of response was less expected, hospitals across the State will begin participating in this program in the first quarter of 2022.
• The 32BJ Health Fund launched its high-value maternity network with five New York City hospitals to empower women to make informed decisions about where to deliver their child, based on the quality and cost. Its related toolkit offers guidance for employers and other health care purchasers to develop similar networks.

Progress

• Launched initiatives to create equitable access to telehealth through the New York Telehealth Capital Program, including access to telehealth services at convenient community locations (e.g., libraries, pharmacies, and homeless shelters), as well as through patient navigation programs at community health centers and public hospital sites.
• Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) supported 37 New York health systems to become designated as Age-Friendly Health Systems. Being an Age-Friendly Health System entails reliably providing elements of high-quality care, known as the 4Ms: What Matters, Medication, Mentation and Mobility. The 4Ms model aligns the care plan with the unique goals of adults and their caregivers.

Progress

• Some significant federal and State consumer protections were achieved for New Yorkers in 2021, especially related to medical debt, hospital transparency, and surprise health care bills. NYHealth grantees played key roles in strengthening and elevating consumers’ voices and advocating for these protections.
• The New York State Legislature passed a law to reduce the civil court judgment interest rate for past-due medical bills from 9% to 2% and introduced legislation to ban hospitals from garnishing patient wages or placing liens on their homes.
• Governor Hochul signed a new law requiring the integration of health equity assessments into the State’s Certificate of Need process to assess the impact of hospital sales and closures on marginalized groups.

Progress

• Organized numerous events to share information and lessons about key issues affecting New York veterans’ health, including veteran suicide, the unique needs of women veterans, and military sexual harassment and assault.
• A strong media presence positioned NYHealth as a thought leader and go-to source of expertise on veterans’ health.
  • Authored a letter to the editor of The New York Times diversity in the military
  • Appeared on television and radio programs to discuss topics including the implications of the State’s budget on veteran services, the impact of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, and creating universal access to Veterans Treatment Courts.

Progress

• Increased veterans’ access to mental health and social supports in communities throughout New York State. We supported efforts in New York City, Rochester, and Western New York to provide community-based mental health and peer support, behavioral health screenings, and social service referrals to veterans at high risk of suicide.
• Partnered with New York State Division of Veterans’ Services, New York City Department of Veterans’ Services, and community-based organizations to deliver hundreds of thousands of meals to veterans facing food insecurity in the North Country and the Bronx. This effort built upon New York State’s existing meal distribution for veterans through the HelloFresh meal kit company and other healthy food donations.

Progress

• We issued one round of funding through a Special Projects Fund (SPF) Request for Proposals and received 238 letters of inquiry. Nearly half were from new applicants not previously funded by NYHealth.
• SPF grants addressed a variety of topics, including strategies to address physician shortages in New York’s rural regions, to provide medical respite for New Yorkers who are experiencing homelessness, and to design and advocate for a high-quality guardianship system.

Progress

• Provided NYHealth grantees with technical assistance to support COVID-19 recovery and acclimation to a post-pandemic landscape.
• Addressed emerging and ongoing needs created by the pandemic, including through grants to treat trauma caused by anti-Asian hate crimes and support frontline behavioral health workers who face burnout.
• Supported a suite of programs specifically to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates by: Mitigating the impact of misinformation and hesitancy; improving access to vaccines; and addressing health outcomes and disparities within New York City’s Black communities.

Progress

• Produced analyses on pressing issues, including:
  • A series of briefs on the extent of food insecurity and mental health issues experienced by New Yorkers throughout the pandemic.
  • The wide variation in prices for childbirth services within the same geographic areas of the New York City region.
  • The characteristics and health needs of veterans in New York.
  • Trends in pediatric vaccinations.
• Updated a tracking tool of proposals to reduce the number of uninsured New Yorkers.
• Published blog posts on ensuring all new moms have access to health insurance throughout the postpartum period and how philanthropic organizations can complement State and local public health efforts, using flu and COVID vaccination efforts as an example.

Progress

Publishing 

• Published 12 reports, in addition to 21 grant outcome reports.
• Published 17 op-eds, letters to the editor, and other commentaries.

Traditional Media

• Received 103 media hits.

Convening

• Held 31 online convenings on topics including food access, opportunities for sharing patient visit notes, veteran suicide, and the needs of refugees resettling in New York State. More than 1,100 people attended these events, with an average of 125 registrants at each session.

E-mail/Social Media

• Maintained more than 14,000 contacts on our e-mail lists.
  • Averaged 22% open rate and 12% click-through rate for e-mail blasts (industry standard is 27% open rate and 5% click-through rate).
• Nearly 7,000 Twitter followers.

Website

• Continued to refine the website to support publications that are less text-heavy, more digestible, and more shareable and interactive.

Progress

• As of December 31, 2021, the 3-year compound annual return on endowment investments was 15.8%, net of fees.
• Investment performance relative to peers for the 3-year period ending September 30, 2021 (latest comparison available) ranked in 35th percentile.
• Maintained return of 7.5% since inception (July 2006).
• When compared with the benchmark of 5% plus CPI (Consumer Price Index) since inception; NYHealth was 0.3% above the benchmark.

¹ Peer data is based on a survey conducted by Cambridge Associates; “Peers” are defined as foundations with less than $500 million in assets. There are currently 60 foundations contributing such data.

Progress

• For 2020, NYHealth was certified with another clean audit.
• The average rating by grantees of NYHealth staff members responsiveness was of 6.1 (out of a 7-point scale), placing NYHealth highly relative to peer foundations.²
• In 2020, all grantees received their initial payment within an average of 11 days of receiving an award notice.

² Based on the 2019 Center for Effective Philanthropy Grantee Perception Survey.