Ian Flor of Hudson health Plan Named a 40 Under 40 'Rising Star' of Westchester

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. - June 6, 2014 - PRLog -- Fifteen to 25 percent of people discharged from hospitals are readmitted within 30 days, often for preventable reasons, according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform (http://www.chqpr.org/readmissions.html). Not only do preventable readmissions harm patients, they add billions of dollars to the cost of health care. So, it is vitally important that patients see their physicians after a hospitalization to reduce the chance of a relapse.

The problem is that primary care physicians don’t always know that their patients have been hospitalized or discharged. However, Hudson Health Plan (Hudson) sends many of its providers daily hospital discharge reports so they can contact patients and provide the necessary follow-up care. And while the idea sounds simple, the process of compiling the report is not. It wasn’t until a young man named Ian Flor joined Hudson’s Information Systems & Technology (IS&T) department that Hudson was able to pull the necessary sets of data – housed in different information systems – into a single document for providers to use.

Mr. Flor has continued to inspire the team he leads as Vice President of Data Services and Analytics to leverage information technology to improve patient care. Now, the Business Council of Westchester will recognize his accomplishments at a ceremony on June 12^th when Mr. Flor, 30, will be honored as one of Westchester’s 40 Under 40 “Rising Stars” for 2014. This distinction is given to 40 individuals who exemplify leadership, foresight, and a vision for the future of Westchester.


A Self-Taught Techie

Mr. Flor never envisioned a career in technology. He started at Hudson in the Provider Operations & Vendor Oversight department. Frustrated that he couldn’t pull meaningful information that providers could use from Hudson’s data warehouses, he taught himself everything he could about data warehousing. He began to take on project after project, successfully designing ambitious claims data analysis reports that Hudson had wanted for years, but could not get outside consultants to develop. He also restructured the provider portal on Hudson’s website to deliver the type of information physicians needed, and in the way they wanted it.

“Ian has mastered the highly technical field of data storage and claims data analytics, and he understands what Hudson needs to continue improving how we manage patient care,” explains Georganne Chapin, President and CEO of Hudson Health Plan and Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs of MVP Health Care®. “As a result, we are producing reports that are meaningful, timely, and actionable. Quite simply, he has unleashed the power of technology to improve health care.”

Mr. Flor credits Hudson for giving him the opportunity to develop new ways of doing things. “Hudson encourages all employees to be innovative and to do things that will optimize our business,” he says. “They gave me a chance to prove myself and assume a great deal of responsibility at a relatively young age. Not many organizations are willing to do that, which is why Hudson is a great place for young people to start their careers.”

Mr. Flor has been promoted six times since he joined Hudson in 2009, serving in a variety of project and data management roles with increasing supervisory responsibilities. Most recently, Flor was assigned the critical role of overseeing the integration of Hudson’s information systems with those of MVP Health Care after the two health plans joined together in September 2013.

A resident of Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., Mr. Flor has been honored in the past by 914INC. magazine as a 2012 “Wunderkind.” He received his B.S. in Business Administration and was graduated cum laude from Towson University in 2006.

About Hudson Health Plan
Hudson Health Plan is a community-based not-for-profit health care organization that provides state-sponsored Medicaid Managed Care and Child Health Plus insurance coverage to more than 150,000 members in New York’s Hudson Valley. Hudson uses every government dollar it receives to fulfill its mission, which is “to promote and provide access to excellent health services for all people.” Hudson improves the health of its members and the communities in which they live through its innovations in integrated care coordination, and by working with more than 5,000 local health providers. Hudson received the national 2012 Medicaid Health Plan Innovation Award for its Westchester Cares Action Program, an innovative integrated care management project. Hudson has also received the most stars for the measure “Overall Satisfaction with Plan” based on indicators chosen by the New York State Department of Health and published in its publication A Consumer's Guide to Medicaid Managed Care in the Hudson Valley for each year in which the State conducted a survey since 2003.

Hudson Health Plan is a proud member of the MVP Health Care Family of Companies. MVP and Hudson are committed to strengthening and expanding Medicaid Managed Care in New York State.

Hudson Health Plan is based in Tarrytown, N.Y. Visit Hudson at www.hudsonhealthplan.org, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hudsonhealthplan, and on Twitter at@HudsonHealth (https://twitter.com/#!/HudsonHealth).