VNSNY CHOICE SelectHealth Rewards Mount Sinai Health System for Management of Patients with HIV
VNSNY CHOICE SelectHealth, a New York State Department of Health Special Needs Plan for Medicaid-eligible New Yorkers living with HIV, awarded Mount Sinai Health System $420,500 as part of its 2015 HIV Primary Care Provider Quality Program for accomplishing reduced HIV viral loads in its plan members.
The award recognizes and supports HIV care providers within the Mount Sinai Health System for outstanding patient care, resulting in successful control of HIV infection among many plan members. More VNSNY CHOICE SelectHealth members with suppressed viral loads are treated by Mount Sinai than by any other health system.
“We’d like to acknowledge how well Mount Sinai performed in caring for our plan members with HIV,” said Eli Camhi, VP and General Manager for VNSNY CHOICE SelectHealth. “The real winners here are the members.”
“Mount Sinai has achieved the highest number of viral-load suppressed patients in our network,” said Jay Dobkin, MD, Medical Director for VNSNY CHOICE SelectHealth. “When antiretroviral treatment reduces the HIV viral load, it also reduces the risk of HIV transmission.”
“VNSNY CHOICE SelectHealth recognizes that the promise of HIV therapy to prevent the ravages of AIDS and restore to health even those with advanced disease is only realized through the commitment and efforts of expert, caring health providers teaming up with informed, motivated patients. VNSNY CHOICE SelectHealth hopes the recognition of these providers will enable even greater efforts and success in the future,” continued Jay Dobkin, MD.
SelectHealth’s focus is to ensure its HIV-positive members receive antiviral treatment and achieve a sustained and suppressed HIV viral load (< 200 copies/ml). This program, which has its roots in value-based care and is consistent with the goals of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “Ending the Epidemic” efforts, evaluated data retrospectively for 2015 and rewarded HIV primary care practices for maintaining an HIV viral load in their patients of less than 200 copies/ml. Members of SelectHealth receive care through a team that includes an HIV-experienced primary care provider, care managers, pharmacists, and a wide variety of other specialists. Additional care coordination is offered through health homes and community-based providers.
“SelectHealth is a strong partner with Mount Sinai in providing HIV primary care,” said Matthew Baney, Senior Director of the Institute for Advanced Medicine, which directs all of Mount Sinai’s HIV prevention and treatment programs and cares for more than 10,000 patients annually. “We have a long history of working well together and putting quality in front of all else. It also helps that we use EPIC, a standardized medical record system that captures the quality metrics required for state-of-the art care. This award from SelectHealth reflects the efforts on both of our parts to provide the best care to patients throughout our Institute, and underscores the firm commitment of our staff to deliver on quality.”
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the nation’s leading integrated academic health systems and one of the largest in the New York metropolitan area. Its comprehensive system includes seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, over 600 research and clinical laboratories, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing. Together, the Health System comprises approximately 48,000 employees, more than 9,000 physicians, and 8,600 nurses.
As a leading learning health system, Mount Sinai combines clinical expertise with scientific discovery to improve patient care while training the next generation of health care and biomedical leaders. The Health System provides care across every stage of life, from prenatal care through geriatrics, while advancing personalized medicine through artificial intelligence, data science, and biomedical research.
Mount Sinai is consistently recognized among the nation’s leading academic health systems for patient care, research, and education. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 1 in New York by Newsweek® and No. 7 in the U.S. on the magazine’s 2026 World’s Best Hospitals list and No. 3 in the world in its World’s Best Smart Hospitals list. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ranks No. 9 among U.S. medical schools and No. 1 among freestanding medical schools for National Institutes of Health grant funding, reflecting the strength of its scientific enterprise and leadership in biomedical research.