Healthcare Matters

Just yesterday, we shared the news that the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) awarded a $20.75 million Health Care Innovation Challenge Grant to a partnership that includes VHA Inc., the national health care network; TransforMED, a not-for-profit subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians; and, Phytel, Inc., a technology company that leads the field in automated, provider-led population health improvement solutions.

I really didn’t mean to come across as cynical. In fact, $21 million to determine if Patient Centered Medical Neighborhoods will create more value than Patient Centered Medical Homes seem paltry when compared to the millions invested to study the breeding habits of various rodents. I suppose the jury will remain out until we’ve gathered sufficient Patient Centered Medical Evidence.

Today, we’re happy to announce that our same struggling Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is making more awards, in fact, several more Innovation Challenge Grants to organizations devoted to hospice, palliative and various long term care initiatives.

CMS’s rush to get rid of a billion dollar HHS earmark deserves to be called out. For all the talk of austerity, it seems a bit out of place. But for goodness sake –literally– if grant money is going to “spill” anywhere, let it flow to responsible initiatives that increase access to hospice and promote palliative care education.

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 21, 2012 /PRNewswire– The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization congratulates those organizations that are recipients of the Health Care Innovation Grants recently announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

“Several of the funded projects are being conducted by hospice and palliative care leaders and are providing continuum services that could lead to an earlier transition to palliative hospice care,” said J. Donald Schumacher, president and CEO of NHPCO. “The hospice and palliative care community is pleased to see attention to care at such an important period for patients and families.”

The goal of the Innovation Awards is to deliver better health, improved care and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), particularly those with the highest health care needs.

Programs featuring hospice and palliative leaders include:

• Palliative Care Consultants of Santa Barbara is receiving an award to provide health care services to the frail elderly in times of crisis.
• Suttercare Corporation is receiving an award to expand their Advanced Illness Management program, serving patients who have severe chronic illness but are not ready for hospice care, are in clinical, functional, or nutritional decline, and are high-level consumers of health care.
• The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania are receiving an award to test a comprehensive set of home care services for Medicare and/or Medicaid beneficiaries with advanced cancer who are receiving skilled home care and have substantial palliative care needs, but are not yet eligible for hospice care.
• University of Alabama at Birmingham is receiving an award extending a regional network of lay health workers to expand comprehensive cancer care support services and ensure better adherence to evidence based care plans, reduced reliance on hospitals and emergency rooms for care, earlier acceptance of palliative and hospice services, and a better overall quality of life for cancer survivors.

NHPCO has long supported the study and development of a continuum of care that would educate and inform patients and family caregivers.  Earlier access to hospice and palliative care services have been shown to reduce hospitalizations and emergency room visits for people facing serious and life-limiting illness. Family caregivers have also reported higher quality of life and greater satisfaction with care services when discussions about goals and priorities and advance care planning happen in a timely manner.

More information about advance care planning and coping with serious illness can be found on NHPCO’s Caring Connections website at www.CaringInfo.org.

Source: PR Newswire

—Tom Finn