The first Long Island Population Health Summit held Friday, February 28, 2020, at Suffolk Community College in Brentwood was a great success. Nearly 100 individuals representing hospitals, health clinics and other healthcare providers, public health agencies, health plans, universities, and businesses gathered to learn from our panelists about their experience with a healthcare housing pilot project happening now on Long Island. The Summit focused on the practicality of value-based purchasing arrangements for this region, and more broadly, the state’s vision for VBP as communicated by keynoter Ryan Ashe, Director of VBP and Healthcare Innovation, the New York State Department of Health.
The summit took the unusual approach of abandoning PowerPoint in favor of candid conversation among the panelists, who each recounted their experience with the healthcare housing first pilot. This is a value-based payment program spearheaded by United Healthcare in conjunction with community-based provider Central Nassau Guidance and Counseling and primary care provider the Long Island Federally Qualified Health Centers. The pilot involves a behavioral health patient population who are homeless and therefore difficult to treat and keep out of the emergency room. Early results show that the provision of stable housing is helping this population better adhere to their treatment plan and improve their overall health. Healthcare savings are also accruing.
The lived-experience panel format offered a different way to learn about VBP, which is often confusing to even the most experienced healthcare professionals. The Summit’s intent was to advance the level of practical understanding of value-based arrangements among audience members. To gauge that, attendees were asked their knowledge level of the subject before and then after the event through a one-question survey. Results of that survey are depicted below.
To help determine the effectiveness of the Long Island Population Health Summit, attendees were asked to complete a one-question pre and post survey. 37 of the event’s attendees completed the survey.
When asked “how prepared do you feel to become involved in a VBP arrangement?” before the summit, nearly 50% of respondents felt slightly unprepared or not prepared at all. 10% of respondents felt very prepared.
When asked the same question after the summit, 60% of respondents said that they felt prepared or neutral. No respondents chose not prepared at all, and less than 20% said that they felt slightly unprepared.