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Montefiore News Releases

June 18, 2012


Henry Chung, MD, Shares Insights with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Fellow Physician Leaders
on the Transformation of the Healthcare Delivery System


New York City, NY
(June 18, 2012) Henry Chung, MD, Chief Medical Officer of the Montefiore Care Management Company and Medical Director for the Montefiore Accountable Care Organization visited The White House in early June by invitation from the Administration and The Department of Health & Human Services to offer insight and share expertise  about accountable care, on behalf of Montefiore Medical Center.

Dr. Chung, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, was among an elite group of hand-selected physicians who have extensive experience in care management.  The discussions focused on several new programs created under The Affordable Care Act and how these could successfully be implemented to help doctors serve patients better.

“It is truly an honor to be asked to represent Montefiore, and in doing so be recognized by The White House as an institution which is a model for healthcare organizations nationwide,” said Dr. Chung. “Since 1996, Montefiore has been a leader in developing advanced models of healthcare delivery. Our goal has long been, and continues to be, to practice accountable care by aligning incentives toward performance rather than fee-for-service transactions, resulting in higher quality, patient-centered, coordinated care."  

Earlier this year, Montefiore was selected as one of only 32 organizations in the nation, as well as the only one in New York State, to operate as a Pioneer Accountable Care Organization. Montefiore was selected due to its rich experience in managing patients’ care over the past 16 years, improving the health of populations and improving quality, while lowering costs. Dr. Chung was requested to attend the meeting at The White House as a local leader who could share advice about how the new programs and reforms under the Affordable Care Act will impact communities.

Montefiore currently provides care coordination services to 200,000 people in the Bronx and lower Westchester.  Dr. Chung’s participation at the White House event allowed him to share details about Montefiore’s history as a pro-active care provider where highly integrated team of physicians, nurses, social workers, mental health professionals and other caregivers, track and maintain the health of patients, preventing unnecessary hospital admissions by providing high quality care.

While many of the programs created under the Affordable Care Act are new, Montefiore’s proven outcomes in similar programs demonstrate that innovative models of healthcare, such as the Pioneer ACO, will help accelerate the transformation of healthcare in the US.

Dr. Chung has a track record of leadership and achievement in medical management and re-engineering of ambulatory care processes and outcomes in both primary care and behavioral health settings. He has conducted research and published articles related to the integration of mental health treatment in primary care, particularly for racial and ethnic minorities. He has been widely recognized for this work as a winner of the Bureau of Primary Health Care, Health and Human Services, Models That Work competition in 2000, which selected the Bridge Program at the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center, where he served as Medical Director for model replication. As a principal investigator, he completed a groundbreaking Regional College Health Initiative for the Collaborative Care of Depression – “College Breakthrough Series” 2006-2008 funded by the Aetna Foundation and the New York Community Trust. Because of its success, he is now leading the award-winning National College Depression Partnership – Collaborative Action Network (NCDP-CAN) Project with support from the Charles Engelhard Foundation and the New York State Office of Mental Health. NCDP-CAN (involving 30 colleges and universities since inception www.ncdp.nyu.edu) was awarded the 2009 Innovations in Quality Improvement Award by the Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC). Since 2003, he has also been Co-Principal Investigator of the National Depression Leadership Initiative which is a joint initiative of the American Psychiatric Association, American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Physicians. Since 2004, he has been a Founding Member of the Carter Center Task Force on the Integration of Mental Health and Primary Care.