COUNCIL HEARING: The City Council’s committee on general welfare will hold an oversight hearing at 10 a.m. today to evaluate how city programs tackle hunger and food insecurity. Tune into the hearing here.
NEW INSURANCE RULES: The state’s Department of Financial Services finalized a rule on Wednesday requiring private health insurance companies to ask patients for data on their race, ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation. The rule, proposed in September, mandates that insurers request the data, but it’s up to patients to decide whether they want to provide it. The regulation is a part of the state’s attempt to address health disparities; DFS Superintendent Adrienne Harris said in a statement that more robust data collection will allow officials to analyze health trends and determine which demographic groups may not be using their benefits to the fullest. The state’s new rule prohibits insurers from using the data to determine patients’ eligibility or reimbursement rates.
EHR AWARD: New York City Health + Hospitals received a $748,000 grant from electronic health record provider Epic for improving doctors’ use and patients’ experience of its medical records software. The public hospital system said Wednesday that it made Epic’s “honor roll” for the third year in a row, increasing the number of appointments scheduled through the patient-facing health record MyChart and the number of doctors and nurses customizing their health record software. Health + Hospitals transitioned to Epic in 2020.
