Northwell Health-GoHealth Urgent Care earns HANYS 2021 Pinnacle Award for Antibiotic Stewardship Program

NEW HYDE PARK, N.Y., Nov. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwell Health-GoHealth Urgent Care has been honored by the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) with a Pinnacle Award for Quality and Patient Safety. Northwell Health-GoHealth Urgent Care was recognized for its implementation of an antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) across its large-scale urgent care network.

Northwell Health-GoHealth Urgent Care began an antibiotic stewardship program in 2019 to monitor and improve the way antibiotics are prescribed by providers and taken by patients. Within the first year of the program, the network's 52 urgent care centers had shown a 21 percent drop in total antibiotic use, equating to 167,000 fewer antibiotic prescriptions. The stewardship program effectively safeguards patients from antibiotic resistance, side effects and medical costs.

"The overuse of antibiotics has a tremendous impact on the physical and financial health of our patients and community," said Neal Shipley, medical director, Northwell Health-GoHealth Urgent Care. "Nationwide, urgent care centers are responsible for the largest percentage of inappropriate antibiotic usage. It was something that we simply couldn't ignore, and we are proud HANYS has recognized our team's steadfast dedication to our customers."

Paving the way for antibiotic stewardship across the nation

Inappropriate antibiotic use is a national issue, particularly in the urgent care space, where 39 percent of visits result in an antibiotic prescription. Approximately two million antibiotic-resistant infections and 23,000 deaths occur each year in the United States as a result of inappropriate antibiotic use. Among the accomplishments recognized by HANYS was the scalability and potential for replication of Northwell-GoHealth's ASP.

The ASP relies upon the partnership of clinical leaders, who educate practitioners and patients to foster a culture of antibiotic awareness. GoHealth Urgent Care's regional markets across the country have begun to adopt Northwell-GoHealth's ASP. The organization hopes to see other urgent care centers develop programs of their own.

"Antimicrobial resistance is a tremendous threat," said Bea Grause, RN, JD, president, Healthcare Association of New York State. "We are honored to celebrate Northwell Health-GoHealth Urgent Care's terrific antibiotic stewardship work. They are truly deserving of a Pinnacle Award and are a model for other providers striving to achieve similar success."

HANYS' Pinnacle Award for Quality and Patient Safety recognizes successful quality improvement and innovative patient safety initiatives in four categories based on organization size and type each year. Northwell Health-GoHealth Urgent Care is the first of four 2021 winners to be announced.

Watch Northwell Health-GoHealth Urgent Care's Pinnacle Award video profile to learn more about the organization's Antibiotic Stewardship Program.

About Northwell Health

Northwell Health is New York State's largest health care provider and private employer, with 22 hospitals, 830 outpatient facilities and more than 16,600 affiliated physicians. We care for over two million people annually in the New York metro area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 77,000 employees – 18,900 nurses and 4,900 employed doctors, including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners – are working to change health care for the better. We're making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. We're training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

About GoHealth

GoHealth is an on-demand consumer-centric care platform that serves as the digital and physical front door to the healthcare ecosystem. At GoHealth, we aim to provide timely, accessible and high-quality on-demand care to patients, both virtually and in person, through both our technology-enabled and data-driven approach to care and partnerships with market-leading health systems. GoHealth operates over 167 on-demand care centers in the greater New York metropolitan area; the Portland, Oregon-Vancouver, Washington, metropolitan area; the San Francisco Bay Area; Hartford and Southeastern Connecticut; Winston-Salem and Charlotte, North Carolina; St. Louis and Springfield, Missouri; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Northwest Arkansas; Delaware and Maryland. 

GoHealth Urgent Care is a portfolio company of TPG Growth, the middle market and growth equity investment platform of TPG, which has more than $103 billion of assets under management. To learn more, please visit www.gohealthuc.com.

About HANYS

The Healthcare Association of New York State is New York's statewide hospital and continuing care association, representing nonprofit and public hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies and other healthcare organizations. HANYS is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance the health of individuals and communities by providing leadership, representation and service to healthcare providers and systems across the entire continuum of care.

SOURCE GoHealth Urgent Care