ANALYSIS OF MONTEFIORE’S HEALTHCARE STRATEGIES 2

Analysis of Montefiore’s Healthcare Strategies

Located in Bronx, New York City, Montefiore Medical Centre is a non-profit medical
facility that takes care of health needs of Bronx’s largely poor population. Due to poverty and
poor living conditions, the population that the facility serves suffers from many diseases that are
associated with poverty such as diabetes, HIV, hepatitis C, and asthma. To effectively meet the
health needs of the Bronx population, Montefiore Medical Centre has adopted a patient-centred
and population-health approach to reduce cost of care and improve quality of its healthcare
services.
Montefiore’s population health approach
Population health approach does not limit itself to healthcare outcome of a single
individual; rather it adopts policies that improve health outcome of the population as a whole
(Artiga & Hinton, 2018). Some of the characteristics of population health approach include
efforts to eliminate health disparities based on factors such as income and race, reduction of
waste, and emphasis on wellness and prevention rather than just treatment (Artiga & Hinton,
2018).
Many of Montefiore’s policies reflect this approach. For instance, the facility has multiple
medical homes that are meant to increase primary care access (Chase, 2010). This large
investment in primary care not only reduces costs of healthcare for the patients but also improves
the quality of care. To promote the overall wellness of patients, the care facility has a program to
help the largely impoverished population learn to cook and eat healthy foods (Chase, 2010). To
reduce health disparities the facility has many outreach workers that design and distribute
education materials that communicate with the patients in a manner that they best understand

ANALYSIS OF MONTEFIORE’S HEALTHCARE STRATEGIES 3
through catering to their education levels, language, and culture (Chase, 2010). These are just
some of the many policies that Montefiore medical centre has implemented to make sure that the
overall health of Bronx’s residents improves.
Montefiore’s patient-centred approach
A patient-centred approach to care is focused on meeting the patient’s needs, preferences,
and values (McCormack & McCance, 2016). Many of Montefiore’s policies are patient-centred.
For instance, the facility has made it very easy for patients to access care. Its many medical
homes and clinics have brought healthcare closer to the people. Additionally, patients are
allowed to drop in unscheduled to its safety-net clinics (Chase, 2010). It also has Family Health
Centres which operate an extra two hours in the evening twice a week and one Saturday once a
month (Chase, 2010). This arrangement allows patients who may not be available during normal
working time for reasons such as work to meet their health needs at times that are convenient to
them. The facility also reaches out to communities it serves with the goal of better understanding
their needs and initiating programs that meet those needs (Chase, 2010).
Montefiore’s strategies for cost reduction and quality improvement
The facility has implemented strategies that are specifically meant to improve quality and
reduce cost. One of them is the use of electronic health records (EHR) which it has used over
$200 million since 1995 to improve (Chase, 2010). The system has enabled better coordination
of care givers thus improving quality of care while simultaneously reducing cost of care provided
by the facility. Its investment in medical homes where patients can receive primary care has also
significantly reduced costs of care.
Deficiencies in Montefiore’s population health approach strategies

ANALYSIS OF MONTEFIORE’S HEALTHCARE STRATEGIES 4
Most of the facility’s strategies to reduce costs and improve quality of care have largely
worked. There are, however, deficiencies that need to be worked on. One of them is relatively
low number of primary health physicians. The average in New York is 148 primary health
physicians per 1,000 patients. For Montefiore the number is 106 per 1,000 patients (Chase,
2010). Additionally its efforts to keep costs low through use of EHR have also not worked quite
well because the facility has not found a single EHR that can effectively meet the needs of its
primary care sites and generally complex system.

ANALYSIS OF MONTEFIORE’S HEALTHCARE STRATEGIES 5

References

Artiga, S., & Hinton, E. (2018). Beyond health care: the role of social determinants in promoting
health and health equity. Health, 20, 1-10.
Chase, D. (2010). Montefiore Medical Center: Integrated care delivery for vulnerable
populations. New York, NY: The Commonwealth Fund.
McCormack, B., & McCance, T. (Eds.). (2016). Person-centred practice in nursing and health
care: theory and practice. John Wiley & Sons.