HRSA award recognizes Family Health Centers at NYU Langone for maternal and child care improvement

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 6 2022

The Family Health Centers at NYU Langone has earned national recognition from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for quality improvement achievements in maternal and child healthcare. The newly created National Quality Leader gold level award was bestowed to only 1 percent of the more than 1,300 HRSA-supported, Federally Qualified Health Centers across the country, and the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone is 1 of only 2 centers among 63 in New York State to receive this distinction.

We created clear and consistent clinical pathways for managing wellness and prevention, as well as for chronic illness and acute care to spur improvements across the board. One highlight of this process: Ensuring we deliver high-quality prenatal care has made a positive impact on patients and their children and will ultimately improve our community's health overall."

Isaac P. Dapkins, MD, Chief Medical Information Officer, Family Health Centers, NYU Langone

Maternal and child quality care improvements

The HRSA award recognizes the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone for expanding patient access for all services, elevating the level of care, and for its effective use of data and digital technology, as well as for clinical care overall.

The gold award for maternal and child care improvement reflects collaborative efforts among Dr. Dapkins, Meleen Chuang, MD, director of women's health, and Paolo R. Pina, MD, MPH, director of pediatrics at the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone. As a result, in 2022, the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone increased prenatal visits, leading to higher birth weights, and reached and sustained high levels of childhood immunizations.

"The strong participation in the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone's child immunization program is especially important at a time when vaccine hesitancy is a challenge and new and old diseases are threatening children's health," Dr. Dapkins notes.

"Our clinicians and staff work incredibly hard not just to achieve high-quality standards, but to continuously improve and enhance the care we provide," says Larry K. McReynolds, executive director of the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone. "This national accolade in maternal and child health is especially meaningful because it focuses on a core service that is so vital to the hundreds of young families we serve in and around the Sunset Park area."

The team at the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone provides high-quality care to underserved patients in low-income communities that are home to many immigrants, such as Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where most residents are Latinx and Chinese with limited English language skills. Many are also adversely impacted by other social determinants of health, such as inadequate housing, low-paying jobs, and subpar digital skills. The Family Health Centers at NYU Langone is committed to reducing these health disparities, and offers a range of programs, including primary care, dental care, rehabilitation medicine, and behavioral health services.

Accolades for commitment to community health

In addition, for the sixth consecutive year, the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone earned silver-level Community Health Quality Recognition (CHQR) badges bestowed by HRSA for meeting quality benchmarks in three categories relating to access, advancing health information technology for quality, and overall services. The Family Health Centers at NYU Langone scored in the top 10 to 20 percent on these established clinical quality measures taken annually.

HRSA, based in Washington, DC, oversees the nation's Federally Qualified Health Centers. Its 2022 CHQR badges recognize health centers that have made notable quality improvement achievements in the areas of access, quality, health equity, health information technology, and COVID-19 public health emergency response.