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New York has announced new technology funding for hospitals, disbursed under its Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program.
This year's money – more than $300 million – is earmarked for IT, cybersecurity, telehealth and other digital transformation efforts, and is to be divided among 22 hospitals that span every region of the Empire State.
WHY IT MATTERS
The state has already awarded more than $1.75 billion in previous rounds to providers working to improve access, equity and quality of care, N.Y. Gov. Kathy Hochul noted this past Friday.
"By modernizing our hospitals' IT infrastructure and protecting patients' information, we're strengthening the foundation of health care in New York State," she said in a statement. "These investments will help ensure that hospitals have the tools they need to safeguard patient data, expand telehealth services and deliver a healthier future for all New Yorkers."
This year's funding for critical health information technology infrastructure modernization, cybersecurity and patient information security, and telehealth expansion – $309,047,122 – is largely aimed at supporting financially distressed providers, according to Hochul's statement.
Ten hospitals received the most funding ($195,127,664) for electronic health record projects.
Those are Blythedale Children's Hospital, Calvary Hospital, Richmond Medical Center, Rome Memorial Hospital, Samaritan Medical Center, St. Joseph's Hospital, Yonkers Stony Brook University Hospital, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, Westchester Ellenville Hospital and Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.
Individual awards ranged from $54,098,779 for Richmond's EHR needs to $1.2 million for those at Blythedale Children's.
Eight hospitals – Adirondack Medical Center, Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, Ellis Hospital, Montefiore Health System, Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, One Brooklyn Health System, The Rochester General Hospital and Calvary Hospital – all received funding for cybersecurity projects.
The total allocation for healthcare information security represents the next largest pool of funding at $101.7 million under the program. Montefiore, a Bronx-based health system, received the highest award for security upgrades at $41.475 million, while the medical center in Niagara Falls received the smallest award at $530,000.
Four projects received funding for telehealth with a total allocation of nearly $5.28 million. Those are Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Medical Center ($1.015 million), Columbia Memorial Hospital ($290,000), SUNY Health Science Center at Syracuse ($2.43 million) and United Health Services Hospitals ($1.542 million).
THE LARGER TREND
Rounding out the total pool of this year's healthcare sector transformation funding program round, Mount Sinai Hospital will receive $11,768,743 for population health management technologies that accelerate the transition from hospital to home.
Of note, when New York State Medicaid expanded its patient coverage to include remote patient monitoring services provided by clinical staff on Jan. 1 this year, the new reimbursement was also viewed as an opportunity to help providers and payers reduce hospital stays.
"Providers can extend their care into patients' homes without increasing clinician workloads," noted Alexandria Foley, vice president of nursing and care delivery at Brook Health, an RPM services vendor. "And payers can help members improve long-term health, slow disease progression and reduce costly admissions," she explained to Healthcare IT News in April.
The larger goals of the New York Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program are to preserve and expand essential healthcare services as part of a broader commitment that has directed more than $4.7 billion in healthcare capital funding statewide since 2016, Hochul noted.
But, in addition to the health IT, cybersecurity and telehealth (IV and V of the funding program), the state also announced plans earlier this year to invest $188 million for hospital modernization through the Healthcare Safety Net Transformation Program.
That program included awards for EHR integrations, tech upgrades for emergency departments and neonatal intensive care units and other digital health efforts.
"Every person should have access to affordable, reliable healthcare regardless of the ZIP code they live in, and these investments will bring vital resources to underserved New Yorkers," said Hochul in a statement at the time.
ON THE RECORD
"With these investments, we are focused on developing safe, reliable and connected patient-centered care," said Dr. James McDonald, commissioner of the New York Department of Health, in a statement Friday. "By expanding data capabilities and improving cybersecurity defenses, we’re enhancing clinical decision making across the state’s healthcare network."
