Agency overview | |
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Formed | 1969 |
Jurisdiction | New York City |
Headquarters | 125 Worth Street, New York, NY |
Employees | 34,891 |
Agency executives |
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Key document | |
Website | nychealthandhospitals |
NYC Health + Hospitals, officially the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), operates the public hospitals and clinics in New York City. A public benefit corporation with $6.7 billion in annual revenues, HHC is the largest municipal healthcare system in the United States serving 1.4 million patients, including more than 475,000 uninsured city residents, providing services interpreted in more than 190 languages. HHC was created in 1969 by the New York State Legislature as a public benefit corporation (Chapter 1016 of the Laws 1969). It is similar to a municipal agency, but has a Board of Directors. It operates 11 acute care hospitals, five nursing homes, six diagnostic and treatment centers, and more than 70 community-based primary care sites, serving primarily the poor and working class. HHC's own MetroPlus Health Plan is one of the New York area's largest providers of government-sponsored health insurance and is the plan of choice for nearly half a million New Yorkers.
Each year HHC's facilities provide about 225,000 inpatient admissions, one million emergency room visits and five million clinic visits to New Yorkers. HHC facilities treat nearly one-fifth of all general hospital discharges and more than one third of emergency room and hospital-based clinic visits in New York City.
The most well-known hospital in the HHC system is Bellevue Hospital, the oldest public hospital in the United States. Bellevue is the designated hospital for treatment of the President of the United States and other world leaders if they become sick or injured while in New York City. The president of HHC is Stanley Brezenoff.
The organization underwent a rebranding initiative in November 2015, shortening its name from 40 characters to 19 characters, as "NYC Health + Hospitals".
In 1736, HHC’s oldest hospital, Bellevue Hospital was founded as an infirmary for smallpox and other contagious diseases on the top floor of a public workhouse and jail. Bellevue Hospital was formally named in 1825. At the turn of the 20th century, Bellevue’s medical college merged with University Medical College into what would later become the New York University College of Medicine.