CMS Announces $1 Billion Initiative to Provide Better, Lower-Cost Health Care May 21, 2013 Health Care Reform, News Family Service Agency of San Francisco, Health Care Innovation Awards, Sutter Health 0 U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced second round of Health Care Innovation Awards, a nearly $1 billion initiative that will fund projects to transform the health care system by delivering better care and lowering costs. “These awards will continue our work to drive down health care costs while providing high quality care to all Americans, and I’m excited to see the innovative ideas these applicants will bring to the table,” Sebelius said. Last year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded 107 round one Health Care Innovation Awards (out of nearly 3,000 applications) to organizations that are currently testing innovative solutions to improve outcomes and reduce costs. This second round of Health Care Innovation Awards differs from the first round in that CMS is specifically seeking innovations in four areas: rapidly reducing costs for patients with Medicare and Medicaid in outpatient hospital and other settings; improving care for populations with specialized needs; testing improved financial and clinical models for specific types of providers, including specialists; and linking clinical care delivery to preventive and population health.Like the first round, these awards will emphasize results and ensure program integrity. More than 15 innovation awards were given to groups in California in 2012, including: $4.7 million to the Family Service Agency of San Francisco to expand and test its model for Prevention and Recovery in Early Psychosis (PREP) for low-income, largely Latino counties in the San Francisco area. $6.9 million to the San Francisco Community College District (City College of San Francisco), in partnership with the University of California San Francisco and Yale University, to address the health care needs of high-risk/high-cost Medicaid and Medicaid-eligible patients released from prison, targeting eleven community health centers in six states. $13 million to Sutter Health is receiving an award to expand their Advanced Illness Management program (AIM) across the entire Sutter Health system in Northern California, serving patients who have severe chronic illness but are not ready for hospice care, are in clinical, functional, or nutritional decline, and are high-level consumers of health care. Click here to view the full list of California award recipients. Comments are closed.
