VNSNY CHOICE MLTC Care Managers Help a Member Navigate COVID-19 at Home

August 13, 2020–When a 73-year-old member of VNSNY CHOICE’s Medicaid Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) plan was diagnosed with COVID-19 in his local emergency department, the physicians chose to send him back home rather than admit him. It was a decision based largely on the support he had in place there, which included his wife and daughter, a VNSNY visiting nurse, and Partners in Care home health aides (HHA), all delivering care under the watchful supervision of the CHOICE MLTC care management team. Once home, the member’s CHOICE nurse care manager, Marie Ledain, arranged to keep critical HHA services in place in order to provide the member with help in bathing, meal preparation and other activities of daily living. Marie also advised the member’s wife and daughter on how they could protect themselves from COVID-19 exposure. “As care managers, we are committed and dedicated to our members,” Marie explains. “During this pandemic,

VNSNY CHOICE Welcomes Public Health Advocate and Idealist Mark Godfrey to Its Board of Directors

July 30, 2020–VNSNY CHOICE Health Plans has a new Board Member: Mark Godfrey recently joined the CHOICE Board of Directors as a Member Representative from SelectHealth. Mark has two decades’ experience advocating for the complex, comprehensive health care needs of people living with HIV—including himself. Since he was first diagnosed in 2000, he has worked with at-risk individuals and communities as a Consumer Representative on the Housing Works Executive Board Of Directors, a member of the NewYork-Presbyterian Consumer Advisory Board, a peer educator at Housing Works and, most recently, as a Certified Peer Advocate and Recovery coach for The Alliance for Positive Change. “I’ve always been proactive and an idealist,” says Mark, who lives in Ozone Park, Queens. “I see things not the way they are, but the way they can be. I have experienced my own health care challenges, and I bring that firsthand perspective to the board.” In his new

July 2020 CHOICE Commendations

July 9, 2020–In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, VNSNY staff have demonstrated time and time again their ability to rise to the occasion and deliver exceptional service. Recently, CHOICE staff members have been working hard behind the scenes to ensure that clients have access to much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE). Here are excerpts from some of the numerous compliments we receive each week from members thanking CHOICE staff for a job well done. A CHOICE member’s children sent an email thanking CHOICE Clinical Evaluation Manager Natalia Kaminer for the care she provided their mother during their father’s final days. “We want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being such an advocate of our mother’s care during these difficult times,” the children wrote. “This has been very tough on her and the rest of us. We are all essential workers who need to report to work, and we can’t

The Man in the CHOICE Van — Going the Extra Mile for His VNSNY Colleagues

May 14, 2020–When the alarm goes off at 4:00 a.m. for VNSNY CHOICE Community Event Officer Igor Kebadze, it’s the beginning of a long but very fulfilling—and never boring—day. Like so many VNSNY staff members, Igor has seen his duties change considerably in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, not only is Igor adapting and going the “extra mile,” but he’s doing it in the VNSNY CHOICE Community Outreach van! “We always make the CHOICE van available for the organization’s needs,” explains Diane DeFerrari, VNSNY CHOICE Community Outreach Manager. “It was clear the van would be a big help during the pandemic, and Igor volunteered right away to drive it.” As New York businesses began to shutter in mid-March and VNSNY’s employees transitioned to home offices, Igor’s first job was bringing laptops, phones and printers to employees working remotely, as well as transporting mail from VNSNY’s Manhattan and Brooklyn offices to be scanned.

March 2020 CHOICE Commendations

March 4, 2020–Providing excellent customer service is something we should always strive for. Here are excerpts from some of the numerous compliments we receive each week from members thanking CHOICE staff for a job well done. A CHOICE member phoned to thank Member Services Representatives Shanika Williams and Stanley Maldonado for a job well done while taking her call. “They both were very informative, kind and patient,” she said. “Their positive energy woke me up!” Shanika also received commendations from another CHOICE MLTC member who stated that she “was absolutely wonderful and did an excellent job with assisting me with in getting a prescription for a power lift recliner!” Member Services Representative Michelle Coley, who works on the CHOICE ICS Implementation team, was praised by a CHOICE member for the assistance she provided to him. Member Services Representative Nadya Fedorova was complimented by a newly enrolled CHOICE member for “taking the taking

December 2019 CHOICE Commendations

December 11, 2019–Providing excellent customer service is something we should always strive for. Here are excerpts from some of the numerous compliments we receive each week from members thanking CHOICE staff for a job well done. The family caregiver for a CHOICE member praised Member Experience Representative Luisa Pacheco forassisting her with bills, transportation and communicating with the member’s doctor. “Luisa is very sweet and has been so helpful,” she said. The wife of CHOICE member also called to state that Luisa “is the best.” The wife added, “I’m so grateful for Luisa’s pleasant attitude, patience and caring.” Two plan members contacted CHOICE separately to thank Member Services Representative Nadya Fedorova for helping them obtain needed durable medical equipment. “I’m very happy with Nadya’s work,” one of the members reported. The home health aide assisting a CHOICE member called to express her appreciation for the support of Member Experience Representative Stephanie Perez and Member

CHOICE SelectHealth HIV Special Needs Plan Gets Go-Ahead for Expansion into Nassau and Westchester

October 23, 2019–CHOICE SelectHealth, VNSNY’s Medicaid special needs plan (SNP) for individuals who are HIV-positive, has received the green light from New York State’s Department of Health to expand its operations from New York City into Nassau and Westchester Counties. This will be the first time since the launch of the HIV SNP model in 2003 that a specialized plan is offered outside of New York City. “This expansion is going to give hundreds of additional HIV-positive individuals access to enhanced support for managing their condition and keeping their viral load suppressed—which not only helps those individuals stay healthy themselves, but also means they can’t transmit HIV to others,” notes Dr. Hany Abdelaal, President of VNSNY CHOICE. One key benefit of an HIV SNP is that plan members have access to a network of specialized HIV medical experts. CHOICE had already been in discussions with leading HIV care providers in both Nassau

How Do You Successfully Move 5,300 New Members into Your Health Plan?

June 5, 2019–Two CHOICE program managers who played a key role in the recent transition of Independence Care System plan members to CHOICE MLTC offer their insights. When CHOICE MLTC seamlessly enrolled 5,359 new plan members from the former Independence Care System (ICS) MLTC plan on April 1st, it marked the culmination of months of long, hard work by staff members across CHOICE as well as by other VNSNY departments. That hard work paid off: Not only did the former ICS members have uninterrupted services during the transition, but with their addition, CHOICE MLTC now has over 18,000 total enrollees, making it the largest not-for-profit and the third-largest MLTC plan overall in New York State. Leading the process were the two CHOICE project leads: Prateek Arora, Program Manager for Process Improvement, and Atul Kumar, Program Manager for Systems and Process Improvement. Frontline VNSNY recently spoke to Prateek and Atul to get their behind-the-scenes

CHOICE MLTC Welcomes Over 5,350 New Members!

April 3, 2019–Talk about rapid growth! On April 1st, the CHOICE Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) health plan gained a whopping 5,359 new enrollees from New York City-based Independence Care System (ICS), as ICS exited the managed long-term care insurance market and the majority of its former MLTC members shifted over to CHOICE. Most of these new members transitioned over automatically, reflecting the New York State Department of Health’s decision to designate CHOICE MLTC as the default option for former ICS MLTC members. “That decision was a real vote of confidence in our ability to care for ICS’s MLTC membership,” says Lori Ferguson, CHOICE Senior Vice President. “Over the past several months, our CHOICE team has been working very hard to prepare for this influx of new members.” These preparations include: Contracting with over 125 providers in the former ICS MLTC network, including home care providers, durable medical equipment (DME) companies, and skilled

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May 2022 CHOICE Commendations

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