Improving Patient Access to Clinical Care in NYC Correctional Health Services
NYC Health + Hospitals/Correctional Health Services (CHS) has implemented initiatives for patient access to clinical care. CHS offers both CHS-Initiated and Patient-Initiated access to medical appointments. The Patient-Initiated Health Triage Line (HTL) allows direct communication with nurses for non-emergency health concerns. Through these efforts, 87% of calls are answered live, leading to scheduled in-person appointments. Additionally, CHS's Patient Relations Department addresses patient complaints and requests, working with external sources to ensure patient care needs are met effectively.
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NYC Health + Hospitals / Correctional Health Services Update: Patient Access to Clinical Care NYC Board of Correction public meeting October 17, 2023
CHS-Initiated Access to Clinical Care If CHS determines that a patient should be seen by health care staff, CHS will schedule a follow-up medical appointment for the patient. CHS provides a call-down list of patient names to DOC for DOC to escort the patients to the clinic.
Patient-Initiated Access to Clinical Care At its own initiative, CHS developed the Health Triage Line (HTL) in 2019 and implemented it in early 2020. CHS conceived the HTL as a channel of communication for patients to contact CHS directly about their non-emergency health concerns. Using their tablets or the phones in their housing areas, patients can call the HTL to speak directly with a nurse. Nurses answer calls live from 5 a.m. to 12 p.m.; patients can leave voicemails during off-hours and weekends, all of which are handled the following business day or on Sunday.
Patient-Initiated Access to Clinical Care (cont.) Since its launch through September 2023, 87% of the calls were answered live and 13% were retrieved via voicemail. The HTL received an average of 136 calls a day; 44% of the calls were addressed administratively or were referred for further follow-up. The remaining 56% of triage calls led to scheduled appointments for in-person encounters. The names of these patients are added to the call-down list CHS shares with DOC for production to clinic. Like CHS-initiated clinical appointments, in-person visits scheduled as a result of the HTL still depend on DOC for production.
CHS Patient Relations CHS Patient Relations Department manages patient health care complaints and requests, which may come from the patient or from external sources, such as attorneys or family members. Requests for health services are sent directly to CHS leadership in the relevant facility. Like the patient-initiated clinic appointments and the CHS-initiated follow-up appointments, in-person visits scheduled as a result of a Patient Relation request depend on DOC for patient production.
