Dive Brief:
- CMS has announced its second round of funding recipients for the Affordable Care Act's Health Care Innovation Awards program. That brings total funding to as much as $360 million to test innovative care models in 27 states and the District of Columbia.
- In all, 39 prospective recipients are slated to receive not-yet-finalized grants worth between $2 million and $23.8 million over a three-year period, CMS said July 9. Organizations will get their final notice of awards later this summer. CMS funded 107 organizations in 2012 in round one.
- Nebraska Medical Center, for example, is getting just shy of $10 million for 90 days of remote monitoring of some patients post-discharge. Under its care model, patients living in medically underserved areas will get telehealth equipment, consultations and more. The University of Kansas Hospital is getting $12.5 million to try to improve heart attack and stroke prevention and survival rates in rural areas, by forming a team from the local physician to the academic medical center that will expand the use of telehealth, data analysis and population health management.
Dive Insight:
CMS's new round of funding includes projects to promote better care for persons living with HIV/AIDS, reduce unnecessary use of emergency departments, improve pediatric dental care, promote prevention and management of cardiovascular disorders and improve care coordination in rural areas.
The University of Kansas Hospital's project aims to reduce deaths in a targeted region from heart attacks and stroke by 20%. A hospital official noted that the highest mortality rates for these conditions are in rural communities.
"Many deaths and long-term disabilities of heart disease and stroke can be prevented if the right standards of medical care are accessed immediately. Under this program, hospitals working together can provide a continuum of high quality care with much better outcomes,” said Barbara MacArthur, the hospital's vice president for cardiac services. Helping patients to address risk factors at home, combined with focused care by rural physicians and hospitals working together, can bring down total cost of care in the targeted areas, she added.