Blue Shield of California Foundation (BSCF) just awarded $7.7 million to 17 nonprofits across California. Nearly $2.7 million will support healthcare safety net and health reform efforts, $4 million to improve patient care through health technology, and $1 million will go towards ending domestic violence.
One of the BSCF grants awarded $1.5 million to the California Health Care Safety Net Institute (SNI), an Oakland-based research and education resource for public hospitals. The funding will be used to develop and implement a model program for e-prescribing in four public hospitals.
The model program is called “Safe and Efficient Electronic Prescribing Practices for the Underserved and Uninsured in California’s Public Hospital Clinics (CAPH)” and will include four CAPH member organizations, their outpatient pharmacies, and two outpatient clinics.
CAPH will help selected public hospitals implement e-prescribing in two or more clinics. The hospitals will receive $50,000 per award for participation and will receive up to $150,000 per hospital to support costs for software and hardware.
For applicants to be part of the pilot program, applications must be received by September 19th, 2008. Eligible applicants need to be public hospitals that are members of the California Association of Public Hospitals. For more information contact Mary Gregory, Senior Program Association at mgregory@caph.org.
Another BSCF award for $1 million went to the University of California, Berkeley to do a comprehensive evaluation of one of BSCF’s largest efforts called the “California Healthcare Associated Infection Prevention Initiative”. The Initiative uses new technology in 55 hospitals to monitor the health of hospital patients, studies pharmaceutical and laboratory results, and processes patient data to identify patients who many have infections associated with healthcare.
Another BSCF award for $550,000 went to the Pacific Business Group on Health of San Francisco to improve care for patients with chronic conditions. The funding will provide intensive training and on-site assistance to provider groups in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
In another award related to chronic care, $350,000 in funding will go to Contra Costa Health Services to establish a new chronic disease management system targeting diabetes, pediatric obesity, and mammogram screenings.
Other awards include $1.8 million to go to the University of California, San Francisco to implement the second year of BSCF’s “Clinic Leadership Institute” to provide leadership and management skills. Another award for $324,000 went to the California Women’s Law Center to use in rural school districts.
