— Improving Access to the Right Care in the Right Place at the Right time

for the Right Reason at the Right Cost.

Project Overview

Through a grant from the New York State Department of Health, the R5 Initiative brings together a wide range of physicians, community-based service providers, payers, businesses, and hospitals from the Capital District to identify interventions that will minimize inappropriate use of emergency services. To achieve this goal, the initiative will determine root causes of sub-optimal emergency room utilization, where gaps exist, potential interventions, and best methods for implementing interventions. Outcomes will include: guidelines for optimizing care utilization; more informed consumers, providers, and insurers regarding optimal care utilization; institutional policies and procedures that coincide with care utilization guidelines; a higher proportion of the population with an identified medical home; changes in regional care utilization patterns that indicate that individuals are choosing emergency care settings for emergent care needs; and a CON process that better accounts for appropriate care utilization patterns.

Read the full project description.
View a PowerPoint overview of the project.
R⁵ staff bios

News and Events

August 26: HCDI staff presented consumer and provider research findings to the Health Services Workgroup. Courtney Burke presented a draft of the gap analysis paper to the group for feedback.

July 22: Select results from R⁵ provider surveys are now available.

July 8: Members of HCDI's R⁵ initiative and other interested groups participated in an IHI organizing meeting regarding reducing avoidable emergency department visits. View the R⁵ overview presentation. View the meeting summary.

June 15: Members of HCDI's R⁵ initiative participated in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's (IHI's) webinar session on reducing avoidable emergency department visits. View the presentation.

June 14: Members of HCDI's R⁵ initiative were invited by the P2 Collaborative of Western New York to hear from top health insurance executives about nationally recognized quality initiatives in the Buffalo region.

April / May: HCDI staff gave briefings to the Board and R⁵ workgroups on data findings.  View the data presentation.

April 13: Courtney Burke gave an R⁵ overview presentation to the Capital District Medical Decision-Making Interest Group, which is made up of physicians and other professionals interested in medical decision-making and health care issues. Established in 1995, the group meets monthly at Albany Medical Center.

April 1: Members of HCDI's Board of Directors and R⁵ committee and workgroup members convened at the offices of CDPHP to hear information from Deputy Commissioner Richard Cook and staff from the department's Office of Health System Management about their priorities and initiatives related to reducing sub-optimal emergency room use. View the PowerPoint presentation and meeting summary.

You may have heard from Benita Zahn's news report on WNYT 13 about our project survey examining how people in the Capital District are using emergency rooms for health care. View the survey results.

Upcoming Meetings

September 10, 8:30-10:30am: HCDI staff will present consumer and provider research findings to the Data Workgroup, and will seek input on how to refine the data findings. The meeting will take place at HCDI's offices.

September 17, 2:00-3:00pm (Executive Board only), 3:00-5:00pm (joint Board and Advisory Committee): HCDI will present consumer and provider research findings to the HCDI Executive Board and the Advisory Committee, and regional interventions will be discussed. The meeting will take place at the Diocese of Albany on 40 North Main Ave.

September 29, 7:30-9:30 am: HIXNY/HCDI meeting, "Using HIT to Improve Care in the Emergency Department, Session 2." The meeting will take place at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Rd. Please contact Kim Sapienza at ksapienza@hixny.org to register. View the meeting agenda.

 

Advisory Committee		Health Services Workgroup		Data Workgroup
Committee members		Workgroup members		Workgroup Members
Meeting summaries:		Meeting summaries:		Meeting summaries:
- January 7		- January 15		- May 4
- May 14		- February 26
		- March 12
		- April 29

Related Resources

Albany County
Department of Health

Albany Medical Center

Catholic Charities of the
Catholic Diocese of Albany

Capital District Physicians’
Health Plan

Ellis Medicine

Fidelis Care New York

Northeast Health/
Samaritan Hospital/
Albany Memorial Hospital

Rensselaer County
Department of Health

Schenectady County
Public Health Services

Senior Whole Health

Seton Health/
St. Mary’s Hospital

St. Peter’s Health Care Services

  Whitney M. Young, Jr.
Health Services

In collaboration with the
School of
Public Health
University of Albany
with support from the
New York State
Department of Health;
Kellogg, W.T. Grant &
Robert Wood Johnson
Foundations