HHC Will Outsource Dialysis Services to Maintain Access and Reduce Costs Amid Growing Deficit
New Contract Guarantees Access to Uninsured Patients, Expands Dialysis Stations by 35%, Will Generate $150 Million in Savings
Jul 26, 2012
The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) Board of Directors today approved a resolution that will allow the management of HHC to execute a contract with Atlantic Dialysis Management Services, LLC (Atlantic) to provide inpatient and outpatient dialysis services in an effort to reduce costs and ensure long-term access to this life-saving specialty treatment to HHC patients even if they lack health insurance. Facing a budget deficit that exceeds $300 million, the nation’s largest municipal hospital system is undergoing a major gap-closing and restructuring effort while maintaining safety net services considered critical to its mission.
HHC will pay Atlantic up to $83 million over the next nine years to provide a combination of inpatient and outpatient dialysis services at nine HHC hospitals: Coney Island, Harlem, Jacobi, Kings County, Lincoln, Metropolitan, North Central Bronx, Queens and Woodhull Hospital. The new contract adopts an industry standard of providing dialysis through a professional specialty company and is expected to generate $150 million in savings over the nine year period.
“We have negotiated stringent contract terms that reflect our commitment to patients and staff. With this new arrangement we will be able to preserve and expand capacity, guarantee access for patients with no health insurance, ensure quality, and generate much needed savings,” said HHC President Alan D. Aviles. “And we will make this transition without resorting to layoffs.”
Atlantic will be responsible for all personnel services, supplies, equipment and maintenance of equipment required to meet national quality and safety standards. For the past six years, Atlantic has been the provider of dialysis services for patients at HHC’s Elmhurst Hospital and has consistently met or exceeded national quality benchmarks.
Dialysis is usually necessary for patients who have lost a significant amount of kidney function, often as a result of end stage kidney failure. Last year, HHC’s 11 hospitals provided more than 95,000 acute and chronic dialysis treatments.
Highlights of the HHC/Atlantic Dialysis Management Services contract:
- HHC announced plans to outsource dialysis in 2010 as part of a comprehensive cost-containment plan to close a projected $1 billion budget gap.
- HHC’s practice of guaranteeing access to dialysis services for all – regardless of insurance or immigration status – will continue..
- No HHC employee will lose employment as a result of this contract.
- An HHC nephrologist will oversee the provision of dialysis services at each site and HHC doctors will continue to manage the overall health care of patients undergoing dialysis.
- HHC will rigorously monitor the provision of services and associated quality indicators to ensure standards of care meet or exceed.
- HHC loses nearly $24 million annually by providing in-house dialysis services.
- Projected savings under the new arrangements are expected to exceed $150 million over 9 years.
- In addition to the savings, HHC will be able to expand capacity by about 35% over the next three years to accommodate growing and unmet community need.
- Atlantic will be responsible for the maintenance, upgrade, purchase and installation of new dialysis equipment.
- HHC staff currently working in dialysis will be redeployed to other positions.
- Atlantic will also upgrade and expand existing units and build two new units in the Bronx at HHC’s North Central Bronx Hospital and Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center.
Contact: Ian Michaels (HHC) (212) 788-3339
About Atlantic Dialysis Management Services, LLC
Atlantic Dialysis Management Services, L.L.C. (ADMS) was established in 1998 to provide new dialysis site development, day to day administration and management of dialysis services and related business development activities. ADMS affiliates provided over 231,000 dialysis treatments in 2010 to over 2,500 patients in New York City and Long Island. Hospital Acute Dialysis Services – Through an affiliated entity, ADMS maintains contracts for the management of inpatient acute dialysis services at Peconic Bay Medical Center and Long Beach Medical Center on Long Island as well as Wyckoff Heights Medical Center , Mt. Sinai, Queens and Daughters of Jacob Nursing Home, all in New York City.
About HHC
The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) is a $6.7 billion integrated healthcare delivery system with its own 420,000 member health plan, MetroPlusHealth, and is the largest municipal healthcare organization in the country. HHC serves 1.4 million New Yorkers every year and more than 475,000 are uninsured. HHC provides medical, mental health and substance abuse services through its 11 acute care hospitals, four skilled nursing facilities, six large diagnostic and treatment centers and more than 70 community based clinics. HHC Health and Home Care also provides in-home services for New Yorkers. HHC was the 2008 recipient of the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission’s John M. Eisenberg Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality. For more information, visit www.nychhc.org/hhc or find us on facebook.com/NYCHealthSystem or twitter.com/NYCHealthSystem.