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March 28, 2024

VNSNY CHOICE

Welcome to VNSNY CHOICE. Here you’ll find articles about our VNSNY CHOICE Health Plans.

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If You Work with CHOICE Members, Here’s Important Information You Should Know!

March 27, 2019–The NYS Department of Health Is Surveying CHOICE Members.  Here’s How You Can Help! Earlier this month, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) mailed out Satisfaction Surveys to a random sampling of CHOICE members—many of whom may be CHHA, Hospice or Partners in Care patients. It’s important that CHOICE members complete the surveys if they receive them, because it is their chance to provide feedback on their health plan. It’s also important to VNSNY because member satisfaction is a key component of CHOICE’s quality incentives and STARS ratings, which directly impact our reimbursement levels. So if you work with CHOICE members, please encourage them to fill out and send back their satisfaction survey. VNSNY’s goal is to ensure each member, patient or client has a positive experience every time they interact with us. As an organization, we are working together to build a culture of hospitality that extends

March 2019 CHOICE Commendations

March 13, 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. A home health aide who cares for a VNSNY CHOICE member praised the support provided to her and the plan member by Member Services Representative Ronique Blash. “Ronique is very efficient and willing to help,” she noted. The son of a CHOICE member phoned to say that Member Services Representative Lorraine Flores was “exemplary and fantastic and compassionate.” He added, “Lorraine took the time to explain the situation and walked me through the process. She was insightful and helpful!” The daughter of another CHOICE MLTC member also thanked Lorraine for her help in obtaining a hospital bed for her mother, stating that she was “very helpful, and patient” in resolving the issue. The wife of a CHOICE

CHOICE Total Plan Ranks First Among All New York MLTC and MAP Products

February 21, 2019–CHOICE Total, VNSNY CHOICE’s Medicaid Advantage Plus (MAP) plan, has received the highest ranking of any MAP or Medicaid managed long-term care (MLTC) plan in New York State for 2018. The rankings are determined by the New York Department of Health (DOH) 2018 Quality Incentive Program, which compares the performance of every MLTC and MAP plan in the state. CHOICE Total achieved the program’s highest possible Tier 3 rating based on its combined point totals in four categories: Quality, Member Satisfaction, Compliance, and Efficiency. In addition, CHOICE’s MLTC plan achieved a solid Tier 1 rating, showing significant improvement in its performance in the Quality category. Based on their rankings, CHOICE Total and CHOICE MLTC will both receive a financial incentive from the DOH quality pool later this year. “Kudos go to Senior Vice President Lori Ferguson, project lead of CHOICE’s quality program, and the entire CHOICE team for their hard

CHOICE Plans Report Record Enrollments for December and January

January 24, 2019–As 2019 gets underway, VNSNY CHOICE Health Plans is starting the new year with a bang. “December 2018 and January 2019 have been enormous, record-setting months for enrollments in both our CHOICE Managed Long Term Care [MLTC] and our CHOICE Total Medicaid Advantage Plus [MAP] plans,” reports Dr. Hany Abdelaal, President of VNSNY CHOICE. Over those two months, CHOICE MLTC enrolled 1,139 new members and CHOICE Total gained 530 new members, for a total gain of 1,669 new CHOICE enrollees. “Our team has also done a great job bringing these new members on board, helped by a number of operational efficiencies we’ve been putting in place,” notes Hany. Looking ahead to the start of April, he adds, another 5,700 new members could potentially transition to CHOICE MLTC from Independence Care System (ICS), which is no longer participating in New York’s MLTC program. “The ICS transition will be the largest single

January 2019 CHOICE Commendations

January 9, 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 daughter of a CHOICE MLTC member sent a letter thanking CHOICE MLTC Care Coordinator Marian Unterman for overseeing her mother’s care during the last seven weeks of her life. “My beloved mother passed in mid-December,” she wrote. “I am trying but failing to capture the right words to describe the service Ms. Unterman provided and what this meant to my mother, me, and the rest of our family. Her service exceeded our greatest expectations. Ms. Unterman treated me and my mother’s care with the utmost respect. She is highly professional and experienced, and provided calm and reassuring support which allowed me to cope and make right decisions during my mother’s final phase of life’s journey. Ms. Unterman always inquired

September/October 2018 CHOICE Commendations

October 26, 2018–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 VNSNY CHOICE member called to congratulate CHOICE for providing a great member service experience. “I had the pleasure of speaking with Member Experience Representative Alfa Dominguez,” she added. “I’m extremely grateful for Alfa’s kindness and willingness to assist me. I’m a new member to my CHOICE plan, and this was a very positive first-time experience.” Read Alfa’s story about why this member encounter went so well. A CHOICE member contacted VNSNY to offer her “special gratitude” to Member Service Representatives Lorraine Flores, Ian K. Ali and Florisel Reyes for helping her manage her care, adding that they are her “heroes…always willing to assist.” The member also extended special thanks to Member Service Representatives Renee Ashley, Lidia Medina,

VNSNY CHOICE Receives Platinum-Level LGBT Certification from SAGE!

September 26, 2018–VNSNY CHOICE Health Plans has been awarded Platinum-level certification by the LGBT advocacy group SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders). Platinum is SAGE’s highest certification level, indicating that 80 percent of CHOICE employees or more have successfully completed the SAGECare LGBT cultural sensitivity training program. With SAGE’s announcement that CHOICE will receive Platinum designation, every part of VNSNY is now SAGE-credentialed at the Platinum level. “This is terrific news—I am so proud of the commitment of VNSNY staff!” says Marki Flannery, VNSNY’s President and CEO. VNSNY CHOICE is the first  health plan serving all of New York City, Nassau, Westchester and upstate New York to receive SAGE Platinum credentials. The SAGECare training program covers topics such as LGBT elders health disparities, confidentiality, the need to avoid making assumptions about a client’s partnership or marital status, an overview of LGBT history, and the use of gender-appropriate terminology with transgender patients and clients.

Careful Monitoring Ensures Top-Quality HHA Care for CHOICE Members

September 6, 2018–For the thousands of members enrolled in a VNSNY CHOICE Health Plan, one of the most important CHOICE benefits is often the regular services of a home health aide (HHA). “The assistance these dedicated HHAs provide with meals, bathing and other life activities is key to many of our members’ health and well-being,” says Dr. Hany Abdelaal, President of CHOICE. “For a lot of our members, these services are needed on a daily basis, so we have to make sure all of our aides are qualified and trained appropriately.” To ensure that every HHA who walks into a member’s home is up to the job, all of the HHA agencies used by CHOICE are subject to the same industry-leading oversight. This includes VNSNY’s own licensed home care services agency, Partners in Care, known for its high standards, which supplies about half the HHAs used by CHOICE members. The other half

August 2018 CHOICE Commendations

August 23, 2018–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 Brooklynite who is enrolled in a VNSNY CHOICE health plan wrote a letter praising the support he received from his CHOICE Nurse Care Coordinator, Maya Cooks, in dealing with various medical-related issues recently. “She made sure I felt a part of the decision-making process, and answered my questions in terms I could comprehend,” he noted. “I was very impressed with the dignity and respect she extended to my whole family. Nurses like Ms. Cooks are invaluable to our community each and every day. Thank you so much!” Read Maya’s story about why this member encounter went so well. A CHOICE member phoned to thank Member Services Representative Joslene Jno-Lewis for being “absolutely exceptional” in providing assistance on