NYC Health + Hospitals President & CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz Receives Public Service Innovation Award From the Fund for the City of New York
Dr. Katz is honored for his extraordinarily impactful career in public health and for his service to New Yorkers The prestigious recognition is part of the Fund’s year-long 55th anniversary celebration
Jul 25, 2023
NYC Health + Hospitals President & CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz pictured alongside NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst CEO Helen Arteaga-Landaverde, Fund for the City of New York President Lisette Nieves, and Fund for the City of New York Executive Vice President Aldrin Bonilla. Photo credit: Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office
New York, NY
NYC Health + Hospitals today announced that its President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD was bestowed the Public Service Innovation Award by the Fund for the City of New York (Fund) for his extraordinarily impactful lifelong career in public health and service to all New Yorkers. The award was presented to Dr. Katz during a reception hosted by Mayor Eric Adams at Gracie Mansion on Tuesday, July 18th to commemorate the Fund’s 55th anniversary. NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst CEO Helen Arteaga-Landaverde had the honor of delivering opening remarks for Dr. Katz.
Mayor Adams during the event was presented with the Fund’s first-ever Public Sector Visionary Award. The award honors a leader whose visionary leadership significantly improves government function and services, and fosters collaboration across sectors for the public good. Verna Eggleston, Program Lead for Women’s Economic Development at Bloomberg Philanthropies, also received the Fund’s Public Service Innovation Award, which the Fund is awarding a select few as part of its year-long 55th anniversary celebration.
“Mayor Adams, Dr. Katz, and Verna Eggleston are all inspiring public servants who’ve contributed immeasurably to the functioning, growth and vitality of our city,” said The Fund for the City of New York Executive Vice President Aldrin Rafael Bonilla. “These awards are a gesture of gratitude and appreciation for their exceptional service to the city we all love and call home.”
“The remarkable talent that exists in New York City government and government agencies is embodied by these incredible honorees, who are super civil servants going above and beyond the call of duty,” he added. “Dr. Katz shepherded San Francisco through the AIDS crisis in the 80s without a roadmap from previous public health emergencies to support his work. Not only did he succeed then, but he has served New York City over the past 40 years since and used his learnings to support the city during the COVID pandemic.”
“Thank you to Lisette Nieves, Aldrin Bonilla, and everyone at the Fund for the City of New York for this incredible honor,” said Dr. Katz. “My lifelong commitment to public hospitals was born out of a deep desire to help others in a significant way. I am surrounded by passionate, talented people who have made the same commitment. Thank you to my family, friends, mentors, and the entire team at NYC Health + Hospitals for their unwavering support.”
Since Dr. Katz’s appointment in 2018, the health system has significantly expanded access to a wide range of health care services, including the creation of NYC Care, a universal health access program for uninsured New Yorkers serving more than 100,000 members.
Dr. Katz oversaw the adoption of a modern electronic health record system, increased the number of nurse positions in the system, developed a modern ambulance transport system, and expanded outreach and housing programs to improve the health of homeless New Yorkers. He also led the financial turn-around of NYC Health + Hospitals by eliminating the deficit through enrolling more New Yorkers into health insurance and appropriately billing insurance plans.
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Katz provided strategic guidance to the City, while directing the public health system’s response to the surge of patients that peaked to a maximum of 3,700 patients, requiring the tripling of ICU capacity at its 11 hospitals to save New Yorkers.
As the epicenter of the epicenter, NYC Health + Hospitals became the trusted care provider for thousands of New Yorkers, led the city’s Test & Trace operation including administering nearly 18 million COVID-19 tests and more than 1.3 million COVID-19 vaccines.
Under his leadership, NYC Health + Hospitals provided more than 18,000 vaccinations to quell the Mpox outbreak, and has provided food, shelter, and supportive services to more than 20,000 asylum seekers.
Previously, Dr. Katz served as the Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS), the second largest public safety net system in the United States. During this time, he created the ambulatory care network and empaneled more than 350,000 patients to a primary care home. He eliminated the deficit of DHS through increased revenues and decreased administrative expenses, and used ACA funding to pay for a new integrated electronic health system. He moved more than 4,000 medically complex patients from hospitals and emergency departments into independent housing, thereby eliminating unnecessary expensive hospital care and giving the patients the dignity of their own home.
Before he came to Los Angeles, Dr. Katz served as Director and Health Officer of the San Francisco Department of Health for 13 years. He is well known for funding needle exchange, creating Healthy San Francisco, outlawing the sale of tobacco at pharmacies, and winning ballot measures for rebuilding Laguna Honda Hospital and San Francisco General Hospital.
He is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Medical School. He completed an internal medicine residency at UCSF Medical School and was an RWJ Clinical Scholar. Dr. Katz practices as a primary care physician at NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health, Gouverneur on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
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About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 43,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.