CMS announced the second batch of prospective recipients of its Health Care Innovation Awards, which brings the total amount of funding for the project to about $360 million for health systems that devise new, innovative ways to curb healthcare costs among high-risk patients.
Prospective winners are selected based on “compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improved care and lower costs,” for Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program patients, the agency said. Such patients are often the most costly and at-risk for hospitalization, which in turn increases utilization costs that health systems are trying to stem in lieu of the ACA’s financial penalties and incentives.
The winners, while not yet final, will reap awards in the range of $2 million to $23.8 million over three years, with each project being monitored for improvements in quality care and generated savings. A final notice will go out later this summer to winners. The first batch was announced in May.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
CMS named dozens of potential winners, with projects ranging from better coordination efforts in emergency care, cardiology, long-term care, and scores of hard-to-treat, costly conditions such as dementia and kidney disease.
Here’s a small sampling of the perspective winners and their proposed projects:
American College of Cardiology Foundation. Project title: SMARTCare.
The effort would take place across communities in Florida and Wisconsin and has an estimated funding amount of nearly $15.9 million. It would test the implementation of SMARTCare, which is described as a combination of clinical decision support, decision-making and feedback tools for patients with heart disease. The goal is to reduce the amount of redundant imaging procedures and the percentage of coronary interventions. It would also seek to increase the percentage of stable heart disease patients who have optimal risk factors.
Association of American Medical Colleges. Project title: eConsults/eReferals: Controlling Costs and Improving Quality at the Interface of Primary and Specialty Care.
This $7.1 million proposed project would test the scalability of an eConsult and eReferal system across five participating academic institutions, led by UCSF, which developed the program. It aims to address “well-documented gaps” in primary and specialty care communication with patients by developing an electronic medical record across 12 specialties. It will take place at institutions across California, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Iowa and Virginia.
Avera Health, Project title: Avera Virtual Care Center: Improving Care & Reducing Costs for the Vulnerable Elderly Population
The proposed $8.8 million project, across South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, would test a set of resident-centered geriatric services around the long-term care population. Three primary goals are involved: building the took kits needed for long-term care teams, providing long-term care facilities for routine and early access to goal-oriented care, and improving management care transition.
Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Project title: University of Illinois CHECK (Coordination of Healthcare for Complex Kids)
The $19.5 million proposed program would build a “medical neighborhood” that includes a network of more than 40 practices throughout Cook County. It would aim to improve access by providing care to patients where they live, work and attend school. UI Health would convene the closely-connected community partners.
City of Mesa Fire and Medical Department. Project title: Community Care Response Initiative
This $12.5 million project would test a model across Arizona – home to a high amount of retirees – that offers new comprehensive delivery systems and addresses the impact of chronic disease, falls prevention, self-management skills and medication adherence. It aims to reduce high-risk patient returns post-discharge and the treat and referral of low-acuity patients from the use of the 911 systems and the emergency department by providing on-site evaluation and treatment, as well as consisting of four units operating 24 hours per day, 365 days per year throughout the Mesa area.
The Fund for Public Health in New York. Project title: Project INSPIRE NYC (Innovate & Network to Stop HCV & Prevent complications via Integrating care, Responding to needs and Engaging patients & providers
The $9.9 million effort would seek to identify people with Hepatitis C by utilizing the New York City Department of Health and Mental Health database, electronic medical and lab records from participating facilities and referrals from organizations that perform HCV testing. Patients would undergo a comprehensive medical and behavioral health assessment to identify areas of “psychosocial functioning” that need addressing before and after starting treatment for HCV.
Johns Hopkins. Project title: Comprehensive home-based dementia care coordination for Medicare-Medicaid Dual Eligibles in Maryland
The $6.3 million project will test the implementation of Maximizing Independence at Home, aka MIND, which is an Alzheimer’s and dementia-targeted care coordination model that assesses and addresses barriers to adults with the illness remaining in their homes. The model hopes to create a broad link between community health agencies, providers and community resources to deliver comprehensive in-home care, needs assessments and individualized care planning for patients.
North Shore LIJ Health System. Project title: Healthy Transitions in Late Stage Kidney Disease
A $2.4 million project, it aims to improve late-stage chronic kidney disease costs and outcomes across Long Island, N.Y. The primary interventions center on improving patient education and preparation for renal replacement treatment, increasing home dialysis and preemptive transplantation, home safety, dietary counseling, depression screening, advanced directive counseling, detecting medication errors, identifying hospitalization risk and intervening to reduce risk.
Regents of University of California San Francisco. Project title: The UCSF and UNMC Dementia Care Ecosystem: Using Innovative Technologies to Personalize and Deliver Coordinated Dementia Care
The nearly $10 million project would see the two universities collaborate to implement Care Ecosystem, a clinical program that builds on UCSF’s existing Memory and Aging Center while incorporating University of Nebraska Medical Center’s expertise in monitoring dementia in rural patients. Dual eligibles would be the target demographic.
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Project title: Better Back Care: A Comprehensive Strategy for Improving Function and Outcomes While Reducing Over-utilization and Costs
The roughly $6 million project will test the implementation of Better Back Care, a new delivery model for new onset low back pain that aims to improve the patient’s experience and outcomes, reduce costs of car and deliver an outpatient bundled payment methodology. BBC plans to create a medical neighborhood linking approximately 60 primary care providers in general internal medicine, family medicine and geriatrics, with the UNC spine program, an existing multidisciplinary team of 10 specialty providers.
Washington University School of Medicine St. Louis. Project title: A Contraceptive Center of Excellence: an innovative health services delivery and payment model
The $4 million project will test an intervention that aims to provide quality family planning services to women who are at the highest risk for unintended pregnancy using a contraceptive provision model developed by the Contraceptive CHOICE Project. The project is directed at primarily Medicaid beneficiaries in the St. Louis area and includes structured contraceptive counseling, education of providers about long-acting reversible contraceptive methods and evidence-based guidelines for contraceptive provision; removal of patient barriers to family planning services; and post-visit contraceptive support
Yale University. Project title: Paramedic Referrals for Increased Independence and Decreased Disability in the Elderly (PRIDE)
Yale University, for $7.1 million, seeks to test a model targeting elders and others with impaired mobility who contact 911 for falls or lift assists but choose to remain at home. Under the program, emergency medical services providers are trained to perform enhanced evaluations during the initial 911 call while paramedics are trained to make follow-up visits to perform detailed risk assessments, home medication reviews and referrals to primary care doctors and skilled home services.
