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NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is set to be honored by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) for its innovations in patient-centered health care and community service. The hospital will receive the prestigious Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Service for its groundbreaking program, the NewYork-Presbyterian Regional Health Collaborative, as well as other community outreach efforts. Representatives from NewYork-Presbyterian will accept the honor at Learn Serve Lead 2014: The AAMC Annual Meeting this evening in Chicago.

"We exist for the public good and have a profound obligation and responsibility to serve our local community," said Dr. Steven Corwin, CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian. "This model of care has allowed NewYork-Presbyterian to extend beyond the walls of our institution and truly improve the health dynamics of our community."

The Spencer Foreman Award honors AAMC members with a longstanding institutional commitment to addressing community needs. The award recognizes exceptional programs that go beyond the traditional role of academic medicine and reach communities whose needs are not being met through the traditional health delivery system.

The NewYork-Presbyterian Regional Health Collaborative, a health care program designed to address the specific needs of the some 205,000 residents of the Washington Heights-Inwood community, has improved residents’ health by reducing emergency department visits, hospitalizations and 30-day readmissions. The program has also led to higher patient satisfaction scores, and may serve as a model for academic medical centers across the country.

"We’re on a journey that doesn’t really have a final destination," said Dr. Herbert Pardes, executive vice chairman of the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Board of Trustees. "Our dream has become a reality, and we want to reproduce it in other communities in the city and across the country."

The NewYork-Presbyterian Regional Health Collaborative began in 2008 when the hospital collaborated with Columbia University Medical Center to find ways to improve health care delivery in Washington Heights-Inwood. The hospital found that the community could benefit from improvements in several targeted areas: cultural competency, information technology and access to care.

In 2010, the Regional Health Collaborative connected medical homes, providers and community resources to the same IT infrastructure, an organization that created a "medical village" designed to be more effective, efficient and patient-centered. The program also incorporated care management for high-risk patients with complex conditions. This enabled providers to help prevent, reduce or delay complications associated with chronic diseases, which in turn reduces health care costs to the hospital and patients.

"The Washington Heights-Inwood community has struggled with high rates of asthma, diabetes, heart disease and depression," said Dr. J. Emilio Carrillo, vice president of community health at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and an associate professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. "The NewYork-Presbyterian Regional Health Collaborative is addressing this challenge through an evidence-based and collective impact approach that connects providers, coordinates care and communicates with patients in a culturally competent manner."

The AAMC will also recognize NewYork-Presbyterian for its outreach to Washington Heights-Inwood youth. The hospital pioneered a comprehensive childhood obesity prevention program, Choosing Healthy & Active Lifestyles for Kids (CHALK), which became a model for first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Active Schools program. In addition, the Lang Youth Medical Program is a six-year science enrichment, mentoring, internship and college preparatory program for Washington Heights-Inwood students hoping to pursue a career in medicine.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, based in New York City, is one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive hospitals and a leading provider of inpatient, ambulatory and preventive care in all areas of medicine. With some 2,600 beds and more than 6,500 affiliated physicians and 20,000 employees, NewYork-Presbyterian had more than 2 million visits in 2013, including close to 15,000 infant deliveries and more than 310,000 emergency department visits. NewYork-Presbyterian comprises six campuses: NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian/The Allen Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian/Westchester Division and NewYork-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital. The hospital is also closely affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian/Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville. NewYork-Presbyterian is the #1 hospital in the New York metropolitan area, according to U.S. News & World Report, and consistently named to the magazine’s Honor Roll of best hospitals in the nation. Affiliated with two world-renowned medical schools, Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, NewYork-Presbyterian is committed to excellence in patient care, research, education and community service.