Planned Parenthood of Greater New York

In response to the evolving needs of patients, five Planned Parenthood affiliates in New York State merged to form one consolidated entity: Planned Parenthood of Greater New York (PPGNY).

The merger integrates 900 staff members, 25 clinical service areas, and 30 health care sites in 31 counties, making PPGNY one of the larger health care providers in New York State. Currently, each affiliate has its own system designed to manage care for the respective communities they serve. However, standardizing the quality of care and patient safety across care sites is crucial for patients to fully benefit from the merger. In 2020, NYHealth awarded PPGNY a grant to implement a risk and quality management system across the integrated organization and each of its 30 different care sites.

Under this grant, PPGNY institutionalized uniform care delivery standards, fostered compliance, and minimized risks across all care sites. PPGNY developed a system to monitor safety and compliance incidents, remediate and improve compliance and risk concerns, and enforce essential protocols for patient safety and quality of care—such as those governing medication storage, dispensing, and disposal; provision of screenings and tests; nursing care; infection control; and records management and security. Specifically, PPGNY trained staff and implemented a state-of-the-art software system that integrated policies and practices across all the sites. PPGNY then crafted solutions to safety and quality concerns and trends identified through the software. To evaluate the project, PPGNY used various measures such as patient satisfaction surveys or patient injury reports.