STANDARDIZATION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT CARE

NYC Health + Hospitals (H+H) is the largest public safety-net hospital system in the country, serving 1.4 million New Yorkers annually. In September 2014, H+H was awarded a $17.9 million healthcare innovation grant through the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation to reduce preventable emergency department readmissions over three years. H+H engaged a Capstone team in evaluating the project's operational sustainability and making recommendations to improve standardization of care across six of the system's hospitals. The team conducted extensive research into care management best practices, staffing models, and implementation strategies and tools. The team also interviewed key care management personnel within H+H and similar organizations. The team's research resulted in the development of patient-facing health literacy tools, screening mechanisms for identifying social determinants of health, and program-specific staff competency evaluation tools.