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Foundation to Participate in National "Partnership for Patients"
The Foundation for Healthy Communities has been selected as one of 26 organizations to take part in "Partnership for Patients," a $500 million national program designed to help hospitals reduce preventable readmissions, injuries and complications from healthcare acquired conditions.
Eighteen New Hampshire hospitals have already agreed to join the Foundation's efforts in this venture, which is being funded by the Health Research and Educational Trust through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
"This program means the Foundation for Healthy Communities will be able to make resources available to hospitals in the state to make improvements in 10 specific categories to prevent harm to patients," said Anne Diefendorf, Associate Executive Director/Vice President for Quality & Patient Safety with the FHC.
"The whole reason this money is being invested is in the hope of saving billions of dollars in the years to come by preventing healthcare associated conditions that keep people in the hospital, such as blood stream infections and complications from falls," she added, "and we believe that taking part in this initiative will help New Hampshire move closer to the goal of eliminating patient harm by 2015."
According to program guidelines, participating agencies are required to conduct intensive training programs to teach and support hospitals in making patient care safer, and to provide technical assistance to help hospitals achieve quality measurement goals.
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Three New Trustees Join
Foundation Board
Shawn LaFrance, Executive Director of the Foundation for Healthy Communities, announced that three new members have been named to its board of trustees. They include:
- Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, State Epidemiologist for the NH Department of Health and Human Services;
- Tina Legere, Chief Executive Officer with Parkland Medical Center in Derry, and;
- Jeanne Ryer, Director of the New Hampshire Citizens Health Initiative.
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FHC Wins National Grant for Implementation of POLST
The Foundation for Healthy Communities has received a three-year national grant for the development and implementation of a new program in New Hampshire known as Provider Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST).
The Retirement Research Foundation State Coalition Advancement Grant from the Oregon Health & Science University's Center for Ethics in Health Care is one of just five to be issued nationwide.
"POLST was launched in Oregon 20 years ago," said Shawn LaFrance, Executive Director of the FHC, "and it enables easier documentation of patient choices - to have full treatment or to decline treatments - in the form of medical orders. In doing so, POLST increases the likelihood that a patient's wishes will be honored as they move to different health facilities in the event of a life-threatening emergency.
"Launching POLST in New Hampshire is our goal," he added, "because effective communication between the patient or legally designated decision-maker and health care professionals makes decisions based on the patient's understanding of their medical condition, their prognosis, the benefits and burdens of the treatment and their personal goals for care."
Printed POLST forms are signed by both the patient and the physician. They accompany seriously ill patients as they move from one care setting to another and people are free to modify or revoke them at any time, according to LaFrance.
Fourteen states currently have POLST programs. Other states to receive the new grants include Maine, Idaho, Tennessee and Louisiana.
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NH Charitable Foundation to Help Fund Health & Equity Partnership
The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation has awarded a $25,000 grant to the Foundation for Healthy Communities on behalf of the New Hampshire Health & Equity Partnership.
According to Project Director Rebecca Sky, the Partnership supports the idea that all New Hampshire residents should have "the opportunity to make the choices that allow them to live a long, healthy life, regardless of their income, education or ethnic background."
The Partnership hopes to effect change by facilitating data collection and dissemination to identify health disparities, connecting health and equity initiatives to one another, keeping a focus on the statewide plan, integrating health and equity priorities into the public agenda, and generally promoting health and equity.
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Quality, Patient Safety and Efficiency are Foundation Goals
New Hampshire's Critical Access Hospitals are beginning 2012 with quality, patient safety and efficiency initiatives, according to Greg Vasse, Director of the Rural Quality Improvement Network with the Foundation for Healthy Communities.
Seven hospitals are participating with peers from neighboring states in the analysis of patient transitions from hospital-based care to other community providers under a program led by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, (IHI).
Hospital partnerships with community providers across the country have resulted in positive changes to transfer practices, fewer patient re-admissions to the hospital and opportunities for improved patient outcomes.
Six hospitals are fielding teams for training in Lean Six Sigma techniques. The training, led by Stroudwater Associates, will focus on real process improvement opportunities brought into the training program by each team.
Support for these programs comes from the Rural Hospital Medicare Flexibility grant, the Small Hospital Improvement Program grant and staff from the State Office of Rural Health, the New England Rural Health Round Table and the Foundation for Healthy Communities.
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Foundation Earns High Five
for Hand Hygiene Project
The Foundation for Healthy Communities is moving forward with its groundbreaking hand hygiene program known as "High Five for a Healthy New Hampshire."
Progress in the three-year-old project - in which New Hampshire became the first state in the nation to enlist all of its hospitals and surgery centers in a hand-washing campaign - was outlined by Kathy Kirkland, MD, Principal Investigator with the Dartmouth Medical School and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, during a statewide forum last month.
Her presentation - "A Qualitative Analysis of Facilitators and Barriers to Hand Hygiene Improvement at NH hospitals during a Statewide Hand Hygiene Campaign" - included individual facility reports for each hospital. To perpetuate the program's success, hospitals and ASCs will receive packets of eight new Hand Hygiene posters and Glo Germ Hand Hygiene education kits.
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Nominations Sought
for Clint Jones Nursing Award
The Foundation for Healthy Communities is now accepting nominations for the 2012 Clint Jones Award.
This award was established in 2006 in memory of Clint Jones, who worked with extraordinary enthusiasm and commitment at the Foundation and with several other New Hampshire organizations to encourage people to pursue careers in nursing.
Nomination forms are due by March 12, and the award will be presented during National Nurses Week, which is May 6-12.
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HEAL Seeks Applicants for Community Grant Program
Healthy Eating Active Living New Hampshire (HEAL) has issued a Request for Applications (RFA) for its Community Grant Program 2012.
HEAL is seeking applications from New Hampshire municipalities (cities and towns) that are committed to developing local solutions for improving access to affordable, healthy foods and opportunities for active living.
The RFA and Application are available at www.healnh.org. Important application dates are:
- Letters of Intent Due: Friday, February 10, 2012
- Applications Due: Wednesday, March 14, 2012
The goal of the community grant program is to increase the number of community coalitions throughout the state that are implementing equity-focused, multi-sector policy and environmental change strategies to achieve healthy people and healthy places.
Support for the Community Grant Program 2012 is provided by the Convergence Partnership Fund of Tides Foundation and HNHfoundation.
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