The city's municipal hospital system is undergoing a major transformation, and the latest shakeup is occuring at Coney Island Hospital. Health reporter Erin Billups sat down with NYC Health and Hospital leaders and filed the following exclusive report.

Six new executives are being appointed at Coney Island Hospital, including new CEO Anthony Rajkumar and chief operating officer Mei Kong.

"We are reorganizing the system," said Dr. Ram Raju, president and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals. "The status quo is not an option because health care around us is changing very fast."

The leadership change comes after a highly publicized patient death earlier this year, reportedly the result of a misdiagnosis in the emergency department. That death was followed by the resignation of the hospital's three top officials.

Raju says the management shakeup is part of an attempt to change the culture at Coney Island Hospital and, more broadly, at the other 10 city-run hospitals. Five of those hospitals have received new CEOs or chief medical officers this year.

"We want the CEOs to be in the ED talking to patients. We want the CEOs to be at the bedside, with nurses and doctors saying, 'How can I help you?' We want them to be roving ambassadors walking around the hospital, not sitting in the C-suite," Raju said.

The system is facing a projected $1.8 billion budget gap by 2020 because of reduced federal funding and the large number of uninsured patients it serves.

Raju is hinging the system's turnaround on improving what's called the patient experience, with the hope of bringing in more insured patients.

Coney Island's new chief has served as Metropolitan Hospital's CEO for the last 18 months. Before that, he led an overhaul at Kings County Hospital.

"I have an open door policy. I engage staff in the hallways. Let them come in whenever they want to speak to me," Rajkumar said.

Kong, the new number two executive, will oversee day-to-day operations. Raju says her expertise is cultivating teamwork.

"Everybody thinks it's a soft skill, but I don't. I think that communication and teamwork is a very, very key piece in success," Kong said.

They'll be taking the helm of a hospital struggling to meet the needs of a medically underserved community.