News & Insights

New York State has received conditional approval for its Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Plan (DSRIP) from the Obama administration, which will provide $8 billion in funding.  Although New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio hopes some of that money will be targeted to keep Brooklyn hospitals open, the real goal of DSRIP is reduce avoidable hospitalizations by 25% over the next 5 years. In a 2009 Commonwealth study, New York State was found to be 50th in avoidable hospital use and cost. Ineffective long term care is a major driver of avoidable hospital use. Nursing homes and home care providers will have access to funding to develop programs to reduce avoidable hospitalizations. As managed care expands to include nursing home residents, the winners will be those facilities that show the best track record of keeping residents out of hospitals, emergency rooms and returning residents to the community. DOH will be seeking proposals from nursing homes in the following areas:

• Preventing  complications such as pressure ulcers, pneumonia, and falls that can lead to avoidable hospital admissions.
• Improving coordination and education efforts between hospitals and long term care providers.
•  A BED BUY BACK PROGRAM, aimed at poorer performing homes, which could replace nursing home beds with other non-institutional services.