Health Care Innovation Awards: Illinois

Notes and Disclaimers:

• Projects shown may have also operated in other states (see the Geographic Reach)
• Descriptions and project data (e.g. gross savings estimates, population served, etc.) are 3 year estimates provided by each organization and are based on budget submissions required by the Health Care Innovation Awards application process.
• While all projects were expected to produce cost savings beyond the 3 year grant award, some may not achieve net cost savings until after the initial 3-year period due to start-up-costs, change in care patterns and intervention effect on health status.

IMAGING ADVANTAGE LLC

Project Title: “The right exam, at the right time, read by the right radiologist"
Geographic Reach: Illinois
Funding Amount: $5,977,805
Estimated 3-Year Savings: $14,935,320

Summary:

The goal of the Project is to further the goals of better care for individuals, better health for populations and reduced costs through improvements in care by reengineering the hospital-based radiology service delivery model at Vanguard Health Chicago (“VHC”), a four-hospital system in Chicago, Illinois, for which Imaging Advantage is the exclusive provider of radiology services system-wide. To achieve this goal, at VHC, Imaging Advantage will, among other steps:
 

A. Develop and deploy a suite of proprietary “front-end” referring physician decision-support tools designed to reduce or eliminate duplicative and/or clinically unnecessary radiology exams and, in the process, reduce CMS’ costs and patients’ cumulative radiation dosage exposures;

B. Implement a comprehensive total quality management (“TQM”) program, including Imaging Advantage’s proprietary RealTime QA® program, one of the only proactive quality assurance programs in the country. The RealTime QA® program applies double-blind reads to high-difficulty radiology exams before the patient is treated, forcing better patient-care outcomes and reducing risks (and costs) of patient readmission;

C. Eliminate “wet” or preliminary reads practices in VHC’s emergency departments, including reads by non-radiologists, in all instances where preliminary reads are not clinically advisable; and

D. Produce material improvements in VHC’s final-report turnaround time, widely regarded as the significant limiting factor in hospital efficiency and cost control.

MOUNT SINAI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Project Title: “Geriatric emergency department innovations in care through workforce, informatics, and structural enhancements (GEDI WISE)"
Geographic Reach: Illinois, New Jersey, New York
Funding Amount: $12,728,753
Estimated 3-Year Savings: $40,124,805

Summary: The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai received an award to implement a new model of geriatric emergency care in three large, urban hospitals: The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, NJ, and Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, IL. Geriatric Emergency Department Innovations in care through Workforce, Informatics and Structural Enhancements (GEDI WISE) is a multidisciplinary collaboration that has embraced a new care paradigm, the geriatric emergency department, which has transformed both the physical environment and processes of care in these three emergency departments (ED). GEDI WISE uses evidence-based geriatric clinical protocols, informatics support for patient monitoring and clinical decision-making, and structural enhancements to improve patient safety and satisfaction while decreasing hospitalizations, return ED visits, unnecessary diagnostic and therapeutic services, medication errors, and adverse events, such as falls and avoidable complications. Over a three-year period, GEDI WISE will train more than 400 current health care workers and create 22 new jobs including nurses, nurse practitioners,  pharmacists, physical therapists, project coordinators, data analysts and geriatric transitional care managers.

THE NATIONAL HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS COUNCIL

Project Title: "Community health workers and HCH: a partnership to promote primary care”
Geographic Reach: California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas
Funding Amount: $2,681,877
Estimated 3-Year Savings: $1,500,000

Summary: The National Health Care for the Homeless Council is working with  twelve communities across various regions in the U.S. to reduce the number of emergency department visits and lack of primary care services for over 500 homeless individuals. The intervention integrates community health workers into Federally Qualified Health Centers to conduct outreach and case coordination for transitioning this population from the emergency department to a health center, thus reducing unnecessary emergency department visits and improving quality of care for this population. Over the three-year period, National Health Care for the Homeless Council’s program will train an estimated 101 health care workers, while creating an estimated 17 new jobs and saving approximately $1.0 million.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Project Title: “Integrated inpatient/outpatient care for patients at high risk of hospitalization”
Geographic Reach: Illinois
Funding Amount: $6,078,073
Estimated 3-Year Savings: $18,750,000

Summary: The University of Chicago received an award to test a model of care delivery that reasserts the importance of an ongoing doctor-patient relationship. The project will use multidisciplinary teams—including Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, social workers, and medical assistants led by Comprehensive Care Physicians (CCPs)—to provide consistent care to Medicare beneficiaries before, during, and after hospitalizations. CCPs will perform rounds in hospitals 48 weeks per year, ensuring they see patients and monitor their health consistently. The targeted population will include beneficiaries with a high probability of hospitalization, making it more likely that CCPs will encounter their patients during rounds in the hospital. Over a three-year period, The University of Chicago program will train an estimated 26 workers and will create an estimated 11 jobs. The new workforce will include a programmer, 4 research assistants, 5 comprehensive care physicians, 2 nurses, a social worker and a medical office assistant.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Project Title: “CommunityRx system: linking patients and community-based service”
Geographic Reach: Illinois
Funding Amount: $5,862,027
Estimated 3-Year Savings: $6,400,000

Summary: The University of Chicago Urban Health Initiative in partnership with Chicago Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (CHITREC) and the Alliance of Chicago Community Health Services received an award to develop the CommunityRx system, a continuously updated electronic database of community health resources that will be linked to the Electronic Health Records of local safety net providers. In real time, the system will process patient data and print out a “HealtheRx” for the patient, including referrals to community resources relevant to the patient’s condition and status. Aggregated data on patient diagnoses and referrals will be used to generate CommunityRx reports for community-based service providers to use to inform programming. The program will serve over 200,000 patients on the South Side of Chicago most of whom are Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries. The CommunityRx system will train and create new jobs for a combined total of over 200 individuals from this high-poverty, diverse community. This includes high school youth who will collect data on community health resources as part of the Urban Health Initiative’s MAPSCorps program. It will also include the creation of a new type of health worker, Community Health Information Experts (CHIEs), who will assist patients in using the HealtheRx and engage community-based service providers in meaningful use of the CommunityRx reports. The CommunityRx builds on infrastructure supported by ARRA funding from the National Institute on Aging. Anticipated outcomes include better population health, better use of appropriate services, increased compliance with care, and fewer avoidable visits to the emergency room with estimated savings of approximately $6.4 million.

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