Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.

doh

DC Health
 

DC Agency Top Menu

-A +A
Bookmark and Share

Mayor Bowser Releases District’s Health Systems Plan

Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Plan Includes Recommendations for Building a More Accessible, Equitable Health Care System

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Today, Mayor Bowser released the District’s Health Systems Plan, a roadmap for how to leverage DC’s high-quality medical services and facilities in order to address chronic health inequities, including gaps in primary, specialty, and mental health care. The Mayor was joined at the release by Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services HyeSook Chung, Director of the Department of Health Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, Robert Brandon, Chair of the Statewide Health Coordinating Council, community members, and leaders from the city’s health industry.

“The Health Systems Plan will help us fulfill our commitment to ensuring that every resident —regardless of background, zip code, or income—has access to world-class health care,” said Mayor Bowser. “This plan will help us provide the right kind of care to the right people, when they need it the most.”

Based on key takeaways, the plan recommends that the District:

  • promote engagement in appropriate, quality, and timely primary care services, including preventive, acute, and chronic disease management services;
  • reduce inappropriate utilization of care, especially in emergency rooms;
  • consider social determinants as part of reducing health disparities; and
  • review and strengthen uncompensated care and community benefit programs and policies.

“Washington, DC has a world-class health care system, and this plan will help us ensure that all District residents have equitable access to the supports and resources they need to live a healthy life,” said Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt. “The Health Systems Plan is a vision for a truly integrated health system that breaks down existing divisions among medical providers and addresses the many other factors that drive a person’s health.”

The release of the Health Systems Plan follows the Bowser Administration’s launch of My Health GPS, a new care coordination program that will help Medicaid beneficiaries diagnosed with multiple chronic conditions get the care they need. My Health GPS aims to improve health outcomes while reducing inappropriate hospital utilization and hospital readmissions.

The Health Systems Plan was developed by the DC Department of Health’s State Health Planning and Development Agency and the Statewide Health Coordinating Council, a group with community stakeholders appointed by the Mayor with the advice and consent of the DC Council. The full plan can be found at doh.dc.gov.