Public Health Solutions

“The 990 is prepared jointly by public health solutions' independent auditor based on the information gathered as a result of the year-end audit and information provided by the fiscal department with the assistance of senior managers from relevant departments, where necessary. A complete draft is then reviewed by public health solutions' executive management. The draft is then provided to the audit & compliance committee for their review and approval for presentation to the governing board of directors. It is then distributed to the entire board.”

“Members of the board of directors are required to sign the conflict of interest statement and management maintains a record of all board affiliations. Conflict of interest situations are precluded by the administrative processes in place at public health solutions for entering into contracts and purchasing non-contracted goods and services. All contracting and purchasing is handled by appropriate public health solutions' staff in accordance with corporate policies and procedures that require competition and internal approvals at various levels within the organization. Board approval is not required to enter into a contract or make a purchase.”

“Annually the executive officers' salaries are reviewed by the compensation committee along with the internal and external comparability data. A compensation consultant periodically provides independent expertise to the committee. Based on the compensation committee's recommendations, the board then makes a salary recommendation for its officers. Public health solutions serves a predominantly low-income, immigrant and at-risk population in the new york city area, with programs that address some of the most serious and urgent public health challenges facing the city and the nation: children at risk of developmental disabilities and chronic health problems, such as childhood obesity; women with little or no access to health care, prenatal services, and family planning; families in need of food and nutritional guidance; and people with hiv/aids, as well as those at high risk of becoming infected who need preventive education. In addition to its many service programs, public health solutions advocates for healthcare system change to benefit its clients; provides training and technical assistance to community-based organizations; conducts research on emerging and existing public health challenges; and assists government agencies to allocate public funding through contracts with other nonprofits. To accomplish these goals and challenges, public health solutions requires a workforce consisting of diversified educational and technical backgrounds in the areas of concern addressed by public health solutions. To facilitate the engagement of a large and diversified workforce in its focus areas, public health solutions employs a compensation philosophy that encourages internal fairness of its pay program and external competitiveness in the various market places for which it hires employees. The overall goal of the public health solutions compensation philosophy is to attract high-quality employees at various levels in the organization and to retain these employees with a comprehensive salary and benefits plan that is competitive in the market places for which it competes for employees. An additional goal is to create career longevity by adhering to the philosophy of internal equity, external competitiveness, and performance management. Periodically, public health solutions seeks counsel and advice from a compensation consultant to keep the organization aligned with the goal of internal and external equity. They re-examine job descriptions and perform market job analysis, which informs the pay grade structure of public health solutions. We aim to pay all our employees, including officers and highly compensated employees, within the median of the market(s) in which we compete for talent. Public health solutions plans to continue its pay philosophy for the future and will monitor the marketplace for talent on a regular basis.”

“Public health solutions' financial statements are made available to the public on guidestar. They are also available from the nys attorney general's office. Public health solutions is upgrading its website to enable the viewing of governing documents, conflict of interest policies, and financial statements.”

“Description of the organization's mission or most significant activities: the mission of public health solutions (phs) is to improve the health of the public in new york city and beyond through service delivery, research, capacity-building and policy analysis. One of the largest nonprofits in new york city, phs addresses critical public health needs such as food security and nutrition; women's reproductive health; hiv prevention and care; healthcare access and quality; child development; and tobacco control. A nationally recognized public health institute, phs has a long history of policy, research, programmatic, and infrastructure successes that have resulted in improved health outcomes across a range of public health areas. Its service delivery programs annually serve close to 80,000 low-income and at-risk individuals and families in new york and more than four million school children nationwide. For more than 50 years, phs has led the quest for innovation and progress in community health through direct and contracted services to improve population health, with a focus on disparities in access and outcomes; capacity- and organization-building support for the nonprofit and governmental sectors; and cutting-edge research and evaluation across a range of public health areas.”

“Description of the organization's mission: public health solutions is a leader in the fields of public health and social services, merging research and action and focusing on creating innovative and scalable solutions to significant public health problems. As one of new york city's largest nonprofits, phs collaborates with city, state, and federal agencies as well as charitable foundations in the development and implementation of programs, and in the evaluation of those programs to ensure their continued effectiveness. Phs also provides technical, fiscal and management assistance to community-based organizations, city government agencies and nonprofit start-ups, enabling them to enhance their effectiveness and efficiently manage funds. The services phs provides to government agencies, nonprofit organizations and others include administrative and fiscal management, contracting, recruitment, grants management, human resources, purchasing, information technology, and office space.”

“Access to health and food benefits: public health solutions' access to health and food benefits program helps individuals and families obtain health insurance coverage, including medicaid and child health plus, as well as private coverage through the health insurance marketplace. It also assists those in need of adequate food to apply for supplemental nutrition assistance program (snap) benefits, formerly known as food stamps. From 2001 to 2013, as a new york state-funded facilitated enrollment agency, phs was successful in enrolling over 80,000 individuals in public health insurance. In 2013, phs leveraged and built upon this infrastructure and experience to successfully transition to a health insurance navigator program as part of the implementation of the affordable care act. Phs secured new funding from the new york state department of health, the u.s. Department of health and human services - centers for medicare and medicaid services, and the national family planning and reproductive health association to expand its navigator program throughout new york city and long island, as well as to hudson and essex counties in new jersey. Phs'30 navigators and snap benefits counselors are ethnically diverse, can assist clients in more than 10 languages, and help clients to navigate through what for many is a complicated and confusing applications process. School food focus: focus is the country's leading school food reform program. A national collaborative network, focus is unique in its approach to leveraging the knowledge and procurement power of large school districts to make school meals more healthful, regionally sourced, and sustainably produced. Its 36 member districts serve more than four million students across the nation. Focus aims to transform food systems to support students' academic achievement and lifelong health, while directly benefiting regional economies, food system workers, and the environment. Focus launched two multi-year, multi-district procurement change efforts in 2013: southern regional learning lab: the southern regional learning lab (srll) is designed to leverage expertise and purchasing power to bring procurement change to a range of district participants in five southern states. With an emphasis on large school districts and drawing on the lessons of focus' initial single-district learning labs (in chicago, denver and st. Paul) and the current seven-district upper midwest regional learning lab, the work of the srll is expected to impact more than a half million students. The srll will work with the participating school districts and their partners to help secure the changes they want to see in foods they prioritize for purchase. Rather than tailoring the changes to each district (and sending multiple messages into the marketplace), the aim is to bring the srll districts to consensus about the changes to leverage their combined purchasing power on a select number of foods. In this way, srll staff and participants will be able to approach the suppliers in a much stronger position to explore which foods - in more healthful, regional and sustainable forms - could actually be available to schools at a price that they can afford. This cooperative multi-district approach to procurement alters the regional supply chain, concentrating on what the districts can do together that they cannot accomplish alone. California supply chain discovery: the school food focus national procurement initiative (npi) is a collaborative effort among 15 school districts working to shift large-scale national supply chains towards more healthful, regional, and sustainable procurement. Collectively, these districts serve nearly two million children nationwide. Working at both the national and regional level, the npi is working to shift procurement of chicken (the leading school food "center of the plate" protein) to sources that are healthier on the plate and the environment. In california, three npi districts have come together t”

“Description of hiv care services: since 1991, public health solutions' hiv care services program (hivcs) has partnered with the nyc department of health and mental hygiene (nycdohmh) to administer hiv/aids care, treatment and prevention funding. This work is performed under a "master contract" with nycdohmh that has been awarded to phs/ hivcs through repeated re-competitions. In 2013, hivcs-administered contracts received federal ryan white funding (part a and minority aids initiative, administered by the us department of health and human services' health resources and services administration, or hrsa), as well as funding from the federal centers for disease control (for hiv prevention), and from the u.s. Department of housing and urban development's housing opportunities for people with aids (hopwa) program. Additional funding is provided by the city of new york for hiv/aids prevention initiatives targeting injection drug users, faith-based institutions and communities of color. On behalf of nycdohmh, hivcs manages the issuance of requests for proposals and subcontract awards, drives negotiations and payments, and monitors compliance with contract terms and conditions, including performance against deliverables. A rigorous continuous quality improvement approach, undergirded by state-of-the-art information systems, enables hivcs to measure and enhance its own work using a variety of performance metrics. In 2013, hivcs managed 320 contracts on behalf of nycdohmh. Activities covered by these contracts include mental health services, primary care and medications, hiv testing, housing services, legal services, food and nutrition, harm reduction and substance abuse treatment, sexual and behavioral health interventions, structural and system-level interventions for hiv prevention, condom distribution, medical case management, home care, and faith-based programs. Hivcs received a budget reduction of more than 15% in 2013, due primarily to cuts in the city's federal ryan white grant and reductions in certain hiv prevention initiatives. The ryan white reduction was due to federal budget sequestration measures as well as a correction for an error hrsa identified in its own computation of our award in the three previous fiscal years. Hivcs and nycdohmh tracked the impact of budget cuts on subcontractors, where reduced services and layoffs were the most common effects. Hivcs issued a request for proposals (rfp) in 2013 for approximately $9.95 million in ryan white-funded housing programs with march 2014 start dates. Housing programs include short-term rental assistance, transitional and emergency housing and housing placement assistance. All awardees are new york city nonprofit organizations. In 2013, hivcs' planning and informatics team expanded its programming to import data from an extract of data from the city's e-share data system. Hivcs uses the data for the purposes of contract payment, monitoring and analysis. Hivcs continues to expand and fortify its state-of-the-art information systems for additional functionality and robustness. Hivcs reimburses ryan white and prevention contractors using a cutting-edge approach to performance evaluation, aligning payment with the delivery of contractually-required services. Unlike most ryan white payers, hivcs' performance-based payment system reimburses contractors for reported services or enrollments, according to a negotiated fee schedule rather than reported expenditures. Using a combination of automated and in-person reviews, hivcs analyzes reported data to determine allowable payment, producing detailed explanatory reports for contractors. In performance-based contracting, hivcs staff does not monitor adherence to approved budget or expenditures, but does audit documentation of services or deliverables to insure compliance with programmatic and documentation requirements. Funds may be recouped for services that lack appropriate documentation or whose documentation disclosed noncomplianc”

“Description of public health emergency prepardness program: public health solutions is the fiscal and administrative agent for the new york city department of health and mental hygiene (nyc dohmh) for the aligned public health emergency preparedness hospital preparedness program (phep-hpp) cooperative agreements. The second budget period of the current five-year project period (7/1/12 -- 6/30/17) began on 7/1/13 with a slight decrease in the total funding amount for the period. Phep provides funds for states and directly-funded cities to prepare for and respond to emerging public health threats, including acts of bioterrorism, and to support regional readiness initiatives. Hpp supports improvement of surge capacity and enhancement of community and hospital preparedness for public health emergencies. Fiscal and administrative management services provided by phs include recruitment and hiring, contracts administration and management, procurement of goods and services, budget management and analysis, and development and submission of all administrative and fiscal reporting documentation required by the u.s. Centers for disease control and prevention”

“Description of neighborhood wic program (wic): established nearly 40 years ago, public health solutions' wic program, the largest wic program in nys, provides supplemental foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and counseling about diet and exercise to over 48,000 low-income pregnant women, infants and children (up to age 5) at nine wic centers throughout new york city every year. Wic staff monitors participants' height and weight; children's immunization status; and refers them as needed for other social and healthcare services. Health insurance facilitated enrollers and food benefits counselors are embedded at a number of phs' wic centers to provide access to public health insurance and food stamps benefits and other resources for the families served by the program. In addition, public health solutions distributes wic cash vouchers on behalf of the nys department of health. The vouchers, which are redeemed to purchase usda-approved food items at grocery stores, corner stores, and pharmacies, benefit the local economy as well as wic families. In 2013, phs distributed approximately $52 million in food benefits to clients at its neighborhood wic centers. Because wic vendor management is also a phs program, public health solutions has a unique handle on the client ("demand") side as well as the vendor ("supply") side of wic-related issues. (see part iii, line 4d -- other program services -- for a description of the wic vendor management program.) special initiatives overseen by phs' wic program include cooking matters at the store (cmats); an innovative, community-based approach to providing individuals and families in high-need, food-insecure communities throughout new york city with the skills and tools to shop, cook, and eat healthy on a budget. Cmats was implemented at approximately nine supermarkets within walking distance of the nine phs neighborhood wic sites in 2013. Funded by share our strength, cmats provided grocery store tours and nutrition education for approximately 1500 families, including both neighborhood wic participants and other wic-eligible nyc residents in 2013.”

“Pension liability adjustment 8,323,645.”

“Committee that assumes oversight of the independent accountant and audit: public health solutions' audit & compliance committee assumes the responsibility of the oversight of the independent accountant and the audit, and the review of the 990.”

“Description of other program services: coalition for a smoke-free city: the coalition for a smoke-free city is a health education and advocacy program that works to increase awareness of tobacco control issues among community members and policymakers. The coalition and its local borough partnerships use a collaborative approach to partner with community-based organizations, policymakers, health advocates, and other stakeholders to facilitate neighborhood-based efforts that promote healthier communities with the goals of: reducing youth exposure to tobacco marketing; increasing the number of smoke-free outdoor spaces; increasing the number of apartment buildings, co-ops and condos that are 100% smoke-free; and engaging community partners to build support for policy campaigns. In 2013, the coalition launched a focused asian american initiative that seeks to raise awareness about tobacco control issues, provide culturally and linguistically appropriate outreach and education, and ultimately reduce disparities in tobacco-related morbidity and mortality among asian americans in new york city. Maternal and child health services: public health solutions' nurse-family partnership program, based in the high-need community of corona, queens, is a nationally recognized, evidence-based nurse home-visiting program for low-income, first-time mothers, which has been serving women and families since 2008. To date, the program has reached over 920 families. Phs' bushwick bright start (bbs), a healthy families new york home-visiting program, has been serving women and families in the bushwick community in brooklyn for 13 years. Bbs utilizes community-based paraprofessionals to provide intensive, evidence-based home-visiting services to pregnant and parenting women and babies through weekly home visits. Since its inception in 2001, bbs has served over 730 families. Both programs have been shown to measurably improve health outcomes for mothers and their children. 2013 also marked the launch of phs' queens maternal infant community health collaborative; a 5-year $2.5 million nysdoh-funded project in northern queens to convene and lead a diverse group of local stakeholders and deploy a team of community health workers with the goal of improving female residents' reproductive health across the life course. Mic health centers: phs' article 28-licensed mic health centers have been providing comprehensive family planning and prenatal care to nyc's most medically underserved neighborhoods for over 40 years, serving more than 4,500 women annually at its two locations in brooklyn. High-quality reproductive healthcare services, including a range of effective contraceptive methods, are provided to all who need them, regardless of age, immigration status, or ability to pay. Phs reproductive health services program: a recognized leader in the areas of family planning, adolescent and women's health, phs has a long history of identifying and addressing emerging family planning clinical and administrative issues, as well as contributing to longstanding partnerships through state- and city-wide coalitions and initiatives that strive to improve care and policies in new york city through education, collaboration, and advocacy. Phs has been the non-governmental title x family planning services grantee for new york state for over 30 years; title x is the federal grant program that funds comprehensive family planning and other related preventive health services to individuals with a special focus on the needs of low-income families or uninsured people (including those not eligible for medicaid) who might not otherwise have access to these services. Phs administers funding to seven sub-recipient community health centers on behalf of the office of population affairs (opa) within the u.s. Department of health and human services (dhhs), including our own article 28 mic women's health centers. Phs provides ongoing data monitoring and programmatic and administrative review”

“National coordinating center, healthy weight in lesbian and bisexual women initiative: public health solutions, under subcontract from the cdm group, serves as the coordinating center for the department of health and human services office of women's health (owh)-funded efforts of five different sites implementing interventions to promote healthy weight among lesbians and bisexual women, age 40 and over, who are overweight or obese. Coordinating center staff work with investigators from the funded sites --washington dc (gwu/whitman-walker clinic/mautner project); st. Louis (sage/norc); and san francisco (lgbt community center/impaq international & lyon-martin/rti) -- to facilitate cross-site communication and collaboration, manage and analyze qualitative and quantitative data, and disseminate findings through national meetings and peer-review publications. First steps to healthy living: evaluation of new york state early childhood obesity prevention programs: the federally-funded wic program promotes good nutrition and healthy weight gain for low-income pregnant, post-partum, and breastfeeding women, as well as infants and children up to the age of five. In january 2009, new york became the first state in the nation to implement the usda-mandated revision of the wic food package, which offered a more balanced set of foods reflecting dietary recommendations to consume less fat and sweetened beverages, to eat more fiber and fruits and vegetables, and limited children 2-4 years of age to low- (1%) or nonfat milk. Public health solutions researchers -- along with colleagues from columbia university and the nys department of health - have been participating in first steps to healthy living, a 4.5-year project funded by the robert wood johnson foundation and the new york state health foundation, as part of a comprehensive evaluation of innovative nys wic program obesity prevention policies and implementation of the new wic food package. Although the wic program serves almost half the children born in new york state, and the program is uniquely positioned to reducing overweight among children under age five throughout the entire state, studies of obesity prevention programs targeting children enrolled in nys wic have been limited in the past. First steps to healthy living thus presented an exciting research opportunity, for which public health solutions was particularly well-suited. The primary goal of first steps to healthy living has been to assess the impact of the new wic food package on fruit, vegetable, whole grain, and low-fat milk consumption, initiation and duration of breastfeeding, and weight/height among children enrolled in nys wic. Project researchers analyzed 3.5 million active nys wic records from before and after implementation of the new food package. They determined that, two years after implementation of the new nys wic food packages, infants were more likely to be breastfed, and children were more likely to have increased consumption of healthy foods, including low/nonfat milk. The project is now moving into the final data analysis phase. The manuscript, "changing wic changes what children eat," which described the initial evaluation findings, was published in the journal obesity in may 2013. Profiles of participation in wic and other healthy living programs for pre-schoolers in new york is a one-year renewal grant awarded by the robert wood johnson foundation in december 2013. This grant will fund 1) a study of lifetime participation and experiences in wic, factors associated with variations in wic participation, and reasons for non-participation by those eligible; and 2) how mothers combine wic participation with other resources to support healthy diets and activities for their pre-schoolers and other young children. An online randomized controlled trial evaluating hiv prevention digital media interventions for men who have sex with men: thirty years after hiv/aids was first identified, the disease continues to”

“Reaching hard-to-reach youth with the gyt campaign: the project adapted the get yourself tested (gyt) campaign, a social marketing campaign promoting std testing, to reach ethnically diverse lgbtq youth (under age 25) at risk of hiv and stds who are homeless, unstably housed, or street-oriented (including runaways, sex workers, or squatters). Activities included formative research, campaign adaptation and implementation, process evaluation of campaign activities, and an outcome evaluation of the impact on std/hiv testing at community partners. During the formative research phase, public health solutions staff conducted a series of three focus groups with sexual and gender minority youth, and conducted analyses of the resulting qualitative data. Project staff also convened an advisory board to guide the development of campaign materials and messages. As part of a robust evaluation phase, project staff conducted two sets of venue-based cross-sectional surveys of 152 sexual and gender minority youth to gauge std testing knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. More than 10,000 youth were reached with the campaign materials.”