New York State is working to modernize the delivery of telehealth services. First, the State is going to propose legislation to ensure that New Yorkers covered under the Medicaid program can receive telehealth services in a wider range of settings.
Under current State law, outdated statutory barriers restrict the settings where patients can receive care. Under the proposed new legislation, a patient may receive telehealth services wherever they are located.
The State is also going to launch a new pilot program to address the resource constraints that many rural healthcare providers face. The pilot will support rural providers so they will be able to make the necessary investments in telemedicine equipment and IT support to bring better healthcare to rural New York.
In addition, the Department of Population Health at NYU School of Medicine http://med.nyu.edu/pophealth with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation www.rwif.org, is partnering with NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, National Resource Network, ICMA and the National League of Cities, are providing an online resource called the “City Health Dashboard” www.cityhealthdashboard.com.
The “City Health Dashboard” draws data from federal, state, and other data sets including the Census Bureau, CDC and EPA. The dashboard is a first of its kind effort to provide city and neighborhood level data available from multiple national sources.
This online resource presents community-level health, social, and economic data for the nation’s 500 largest cities so local leaders are able to identify and take action around the most pressing health needs in their cities and communities.
The Dashboard reports on 36 key measures of health, such as obesity and opioid overdose deaths as well as conditions that influence health such as housing affordability, third grade reading proficiency, and income inequality. The Dashboard also presents data according to race and gender.
The Dashboard website displays measures and drivers of health through interactive maps, tables, and charts. The nation’s 500 largest cities with populations of about 66,000 or above can use the site to target their efforts to improve the well-being of residents by comparing outcomes with peer cities and across neighborhoods in other areas to guide local solutions.