Yesterday, the Partnership for New York City, the entity typically seen as the leading voice of the city’s business community released a health care plan entitled, “Towards a Resilient System of Health,” that seeks a coordinated and multi-sector approach that would be made possible using technology.

Coming during a week when NYC’s Comptroller found the city’s recovery as trailing that of the country’s and the number of residents receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits growing to 1.68 million as of August, such an approach is deemed necessary based on research conducted in collaboration with Deloitte finding that social determinants of health can control 80% – 90% of the health outcomes for a population. In light of this, the report finds that the city’s medical institutions and health care providers cannot adequately address health needs by themselves.

The report uses an analysis of the New York metropolitan region’s ecosystem as well as interviews with a wide range of individuals including hospital and business leaders, government officials, entrepreneurs, investors, insurers, non-profit leaders, and frontline healthcare workers.

Given the multi-faceted determinants, it seeks an integration of the health care system with social, environmental, housing and economic development initiatives that would require an infrastructure that is not yet in existence, but would be currently feasible through the use of technology. Specifically, the plan would seek to provide access to “interoperable data among health care providers, as well as educational and human service agencies,” and “predict and proactively treat illness at a community level rather than provide reactive care when an individual gets sick.”

Specific uses of technology under the plan include:

• Closely supporting and tracking evolving science-based public health guidelines
• Creating an accredited private sector and science based rating system that measures the safety of indoor facilities
• Establishing the basis for a learning system of health, which can leverage data to learn in real-time with real world evidence
• The continued utilization of telehealth

Categories: Comparative Advantage, Digital Economy, Our Communities