Health Care Innovation Awards: Virginia

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.

CARILION NEW RIVER VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER    

Project Title: “Improving health for at-risk rural patients (IHARP) in 23 southwest Virginia counties through a collaborative pharmacist practice model”
Geographic Reach: Virginia, West Virginia
Funding Amount: $4,162,618
Estimated 3-Year Savings: $4,308,295

Summary: Carilion New River Valley Medical Center, in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy, Aetna Healthcare and select community pharmacies, received an award to improve medication therapy management for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries and other patients in 23 underserved, rural counties in southwest Virginia. Their care delivery model, involving six rural and one urban hospitals and 20 primary care practices, trains pharmacists in transformative care and chronic disease management protocols. Through care coordination and shared access to electronic medical records, the project enables pharmacists to participate in improving medication adherence and management, resulting in better health, reduced hospitalizations and emergency room visits, and fewer adverse drug events for patients with multiple chronic diseases.

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

Project Title: “Using Telemedicine in peritoneal dialysis to improve patient adherence and outcomes while reducing overall costs”
Geographic Reach: District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia
Funding Amount: $1,939,127
Estimated 3-Year Savings: $1,700,000

Summary: George Washington University received an award to improve care for 300 patients on peritoneal dialysis in Washington, D.C., and eventually in Virginia and Maryland. The intervention will use telemedicine to offer real-time, continuous, and interactive health monitoring to improve patient safety and treatment. The model will train a dialysis nurse workforce in prevention, care coordination, team-based care, telemedicine, and the use of remote patient data to guide treatment for co-morbid, complex patients. This approach is expected to improve patient access to care, adherence to treatment, self-management, and health outcomes, while reducing cost of care for peritoneal dialysis patients with complex health care needs by reducing overall hospitalization days with estimated savings of approximately $1.7 million. Over the three-year period, George Washington University’s program will train an estimated three health care workers and create an estimated three new jobs. These workers will provide clinical support and health monitoring via the web to home dialysis patients.

THE RECTOR AND VISITORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA    

Project Title: “Proactive Palliative Care and Palliative Radiation Model”
Geographic Reach: Virginia
Funding Amount: $2,571,322
Estimated 3-Year Savings: $2,920,639

Summary: The Rector and the Visitors of the University of Virginia received an award to improve care for patients with advanced cancer. The program emphasizes patient reported outcomes as a key source of patient data for longitudinally tracking patient status and outcomes. This shared data system will be used for multi-disciplinary care coordination to improve quality of care, increase survival, and reduce costs mainly through prevention of emergency room visits and hospitalizations. The patient reported outcomes database will be directly integrated into the EPIC Electronic Medical Record and will alert the health care team of critical changes in patient status to allow for rapid interventions. The care model includes a weekly multi-disciplinary Supportive Care Team meeting to address management of the most critical patients requiring rapid coordination of multi-disciplinary care plans for optimal patient care. The program includes a redesign of radiation therapy workflow to allow for a rapid single-day treatment for cancer that has spread to bone with the goal of the entire process being completed in 1-2 hours and providing rapid pain relief and less treatment related toxicity than standard palliative treatments due to the targeting of the radiation. Over a three-year period, Rector and Visitors’ program will train an estimated 65 workers and create three new jobs to support this project.

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