MetroPlus Health Plan hosted a grand opening celebration and holiday toy distribution at its new community-based office in Longwood on Wednesday, December 12.
Held at the first Bronx-based MetroPlus Community Office, 953 Southern Boulevard, it was a fun-filled holiday event with toys and healthy treats. The grand opening offered free dental screenings for children, teens, and young adults, ages 2 to 20.
More than being fun for an entire family, the new location will also position MetroPlus to tackle a critical health care issue the Bronx is faced with.
Roughly, out of the Bronx’s 1.4 million people, 313,055 or 22% of Bronx residents are uninsured. MetroPlus chief growth officer Roger Milliner has made it his personal mission to slash that number drastically with the opening of the new ‘brick and mortar’ location.
“Our goal is to bring affordable healthcare to the Bronx now,” he said mentioning how the facility will also be used for basic medical screenings as well as community space, including offerings of English as second language classes.
“We want to be part of the community,” Milliner added.
The location on Southern Boulevard near East 163rd Street was a strategic decision, according to MetroPlus’ Bronx supervisor Rasheeda Petersten.
“We chose this location for a number of reasons, the primary one being the population density in the immediate area as well as how many of these people are not insured,” Petersen said, mentioning that the area’s huge number of transit options also played into the site’s selection. “The goal now is to take over the Bronx market share,” she added.
Petersen went on to explain that before all of that, the goal was to simply bring affordable insurance to those in need.
Fittingly enough, just days following that grand opening, MetroPlus announced that it has been ranked New York City’s highest-rated health plan, according to the NYS Department of Health’s 2018 Consumer’s Guide to Medicaid and Child Health Plus Managed Care Plans in New York City.
The annual rating is based on managed care plans on quality of care delivered in addition to members’ satisfaction with the care and services they receive. Across the city, MetroPlus Health Plan earned an overall rating of five stars, the highest possible score.
“This outstanding result is another indication of the superior healthcare and coverage that MetroPlus members receive and is reflective of the excellent MetroPlus provider network that puts quality healthcare and our members first,” said Dr. Arnold Saperstein, president and CEO of MetroPlus.
The 2018 Consumer’s Guide rates plans on ten distinct measures across three categories, preventive and well-care for adults and children, quality of care provided to members with illnesses, and patient satisfaction with access and services, ultimately resulting in an overall rating of 0 to 5 stars.
The health plan’s 2018, five-star overall rating included five stars in the clinical areas of cardiovascular care, diabetes care, child and adolescent care, women’s preventive care and adult care.
MetroPlus’ new Bronx location’s hours will be 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and Sundays by appointment only.
For a list of MetroPlus locations and hours of operation, including the new Bronx location, visit www.metro
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