Two Foundations located in the Northwest recently awarded grants and issued an RFP. One of the organizations, the Regence Foundation awarded three technology grants for $195,000 to help nonprofits improve healthcare quality in Portland and Seattle.
One technology grant went to the Virginia Garda Memorial Foundation for $100,000 to help fund an electronic version of a medical home for thousands of Oregon residents. This foundation emphasizes providing high quality and culturally appropriate primary healthcare especially for migrant and seasonal farm workers.
The funding will help purchase hardware and software to support the electronic medical records of patients at the Virginia Garda clinics which can then be accessed by any clinic in the Community Health Information Network.
The two other awards will deliver healthcare information via the internet. The first award went to the Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation in Portland for $45,000 to help build a consumer oriented web site on healthcare quality to be operated by Partner for Quality Care. The site will provide the public with resources on healthcare quality, hospitals and nursing homes quality data, and provide links to other credible health resources along with tips on evaluating the online health information.
The second award went to the Puget Sound Health Alliance in Seattle for $50,000 to create a web-based portal to deliver performance results to Puget Sound area clinics and will include data on individual providers. The funding will enable the performance reports to be valuable tools to refine clinical improvement processes, identify and start new patient support programs, and guide overall quality improvements.
As for the RFP, the Northwest Health Foundation on behalf of the Oregon Department of Human Services issued an RFP that is due by September 2, 2008 to find innovative ways to improve access and provide effective healthcare delivery for families. The goal is to improve preventive health services, increase access to better primary care for families, explore alternative models for reimbursement, and collect information to be able to evaluate each grant funded project.
Specifically, the Northwest Health Foundation and the Oregon DHS are interested in projects to:
- Bring diverse stakeholders together to coordinate, communicate, and improve access to care
- Provide patient-centered care that uses patient driven goals and evidence-based practices
- Provide for team-based care that takes advantage of nursing services
- Provide for coordinated care to link patients to comprehensive services in the community
- Provide accessibility through the telephone and email and remove other barriers to timely care
- Collaborate with the community to ensure that health related interests and services are coordinated, along with psychosocial services. Assessments need to be conducted on health status, disparities, and effectiveness of services
The DHHS will award grants for two projects in the amount of $250,000 and will cover a two year grant period. For more information, contact Chris DeMars at the Northwest Health Foundation at cdemars@nwhg.org or telephone (971) 230-1292, or for further information, go to www.ohsu.edu/ohsuedu/outreach/oregonruralhealth/news/nwhf-rfp.cfm
