Earlier this year Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the award of nearly $700 million in funding to One Brooklyn Health system (One Brooklyn), the new unified health care system aimed at transforming the health care system and accessibility of quality care throughout Central Brooklyn.
One Brooklyn Health is specifically a partnership between Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, Interfaith Medical Center and Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center. LaRay Brown, currently president and chief executive of Interfaith, will serve as chief executive of One Brooklyn Health.
The idea for the consolidation was first recommended as part of Northwell Health’s “The Brooklyn Study: Reshaping the Future of Healthcare,” a feasibility study that included initial recommendations for providing comprehensive, sustainable health care to residents of central and northeastern Brooklyn.
“The blueprint came from that study and it was to take these three organizations and create a new system of healthcare for this part of Brooklyn called the One Brooklyn Health. The idea being that if these three organizations would collaborate with each other as opposed to competing with each other than we would better serve the community,” said Dominick Stanzione, CEO of Brookdale Hospital.
As part of the plan, each hospital will have programs or services on which it has a particular focus, that will not be duplicated by the other hospital; but a full range of inpatient and specialty care services will be available in the system for whatever patients need. “This approach will enable limited resources to be used most effectively to better serve the communities,” according to Brown.
Kingsbrook will be converted to a medical village with a full-services medical emergency room, comprehensive outpatient services, including ambulatory surgery services; as well as rehabilitation, post-acute services. Brookdale will increase its acute care inpatient role and undergo renovations to support its role as a regional trauma center. Interfaith will renovate some inpatient care areas, expand its medical emergency department and its psychiatric emergency program to include observation and crisis services.
“And there could be additional opportunities for further consolidation as healthcare evolves. For example as more community health services are developed, there may be less demand for hospital stays. Instead of having multiple inpatients units with low occupancy, why not look to see where services could be concentrated on one campus, and consider enhancing services that are the other campus’ strong suit to better meet the community need, said Brown. ”
The new healthcare system will take a three-pronged approach to delivering quality care to Central Brooklyn residents in the form of investments in ambulatory care, infrastructure and information technology.
Of the $700 million, $224 million will be used to develop a 32-site ambulatory care network that Cuomo said will create 255 jobs and bring an additional 300 primary care physicians to central Brooklyn. The system will partner with community health centers, including the Bedford-Stuyvesant Family Health Center, ODA Crown Heights, Brightpoint Health and the Brownsville Multi-Service Family Health Center.
“This isn’t just about the three hospitals but major expansion of ambulatory care. Of moving primary care and other outpatient services out into the community because most of the individuals who are underserved, are underserved because they are not getting that primary care. People lack a medical home and there’s no place for them to get that care,” said Stanzione.
According to Brown and Stanzione, many of the patients who use the Central Brooklyn hospitals have had limited access to primary and preventative care, a change the new system is hoping to bring about.
“It can’t really be about the hospitals, it’s about creating a health system that is going to better serve the community,” added Stanzione.
Additionally, there will also be an investment of $384 million in the infrastructure of member hospitals, carving out clinical niches for each including equipment and building upgrades.
“Because these hospitals have struggled financially, there haven’t been infrastructure investments. Much of the money we are going to spend no one will see because it will be behind the walls because the funding will go to fixing elevators, electrical systems and plumbing systems,” said Stanzione.
The hope is to not only increase quality care across the borough and reduce healthcare disparities in Central Brooklyn but to also give residents the knowledge and access to improving their daily lives.
As a result, the comprehensive plan includes a focus on increasing access to open spaces and healthy food and creating a stronger, more sustainable Central Brooklyn by prioritizing strategic investments in resiliency and affordable housing, as well as job creation, youth development, and community violence prevention.
“There are a host of issues that affect the people in the communities that we are serving and so I think that is important to note, that the One Brooklyn board’s mission isn’t just about investing in the hospitals and in our health centers but it’s also about being involved in the policy decisions and working with other entities to improve the social determinants of health,” said Brown.
The award is part of a larger $1.4 billion investment by the state in repairing and upgrading the health care disparities across the borough through the Vital Brooklyn Initiative. The initiative aims to invest in eight integrated areas, establishing a national paradigm for addressing chronic disparities, like systemic violence and entrenched poverty in high-need communities.
“This is a huge investment, this is really significant. There really hasn’t been a healthcare system that has come together in New York in generations,” concluded Stanzione.
