On New York City Health and Human Services

We provide a wide range of health and human services to a diverse and complex client population. We manage about $20 billion in services provided by nine different agencies that employ about 80,000 people: from public health that focuses on a whole range of quality of life issues to agencies like the Department of Probation that oversees individuals under court-ordered supervision. Broadly, I think agencies in the HHS portfolio provide “helping” services for the city residents. Whether it’s a loss of a job or the onset of homelessness,we have a set of safety-net services that can help people when a crisis arises.

There are the really large agencies, such as the Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC); it’s the largest public hospital owned organization possibly in the world, most certainly in the country. It is composed of 11 major hospitals throughout the five boroughs and dozens of community clinics. It hastens of thousands of employees and an annual budget of $7.5 billion. The vast majority of the people who receive services from our Health and Hospitals Corporation are individuals who are in public health insurance. We also serve everybodywith a health need, so we’ll serve regardless of insurance status. Another example, there’s also the city’s Human Resources Administration—with a $6 billion budget and 20,000 employees—that manages the critical human services safety net, such as cash assistance and food stamps.

We also enroll folks in the Medicaid program while providing some really important crisis services ranging from support for victims of domestic violence and operating city shelters [to] providing adult protective services and elderly care.

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