EMS World Magazine is the most authoritative source in the world for clinical and educational material designed to improve the delivery of prehospital emergency medical care.
Issue link: https://emsworld.epubxp.com/i/469414
INNOVATION GRANTS EMSWORLD.com | MARCH 2015 35 City of Mesa Fire and Medical Department • Project Title: "Community Care Response Initiative" • Geographic Reach: Arizona • Funding Amount: $12,515,727. The City of Mesa Fire and Medical Department received an award to test a model that offers comprehensive deliv- ery systems and addresses the impact of chronic disease, falls prevention, self-man- agement skills and medication adherence. The model aims to reduce high-risk patient returns post-discharge, and the treatment and referral of low-acuity patients from the use of the 9-1-1 sys- tems and the emergency department. The program provides low-acuity patients with on-site evaluation and treatment; and/or refers patients to more appropri- ate services, which reduces duplication efforts between emergency rooms and private physician providers. High-risk patients receive follow-up evaluations after discharge to reduce the incidence of readmission. Disease preventative services are pro- vided, including immunizations, falls prevention, home safety inspections and education on the safe use of prescribed medications. The Community Care Response Initiative consists of four units operating 24/7 throughout the Mesa area. Also provided is a physician extender unit—a modified ambulance that takes the team to perform low-acuity services or post-discharge hospital follow-up. The services provided by this unit are similar to services provided by an urgent care: in-depth patient evaluations, behavior- al health evaluations, suturing, minor trauma evaluations, cardiac diagnostic capabilities, pain management, prescrip- tion services, immunizations, health education, referral services, primary care consultations, sepsis evaluations, post-discharge follow-ups and minor diagnostic testing. According to Gary Smith, MD, MMM, FAAFP, "Mesa Fire and Medical Depart- Health Care Innovation Grant Recipients Making Progress Agencies seeing results already from their grant programs By Jason Busch, Associate Editor B eginning in January, EMS World launched a yearlong series that pro- vides readers with a road map for developing MIH-CP programs. This series will address the following topics: • Planning for rapid implementation; • Data metrics and outcome measures; • Collaborations with home healthcare; • Accreditation of MIH-CP programs; • MIH Summit at EMS On The Hill Day; • Payer perspectives for MIH-CP services; • Choosing practitioner candidates; • Education of MIH-CP practitioners; • MIH-CP programs in rural settings; • International models of MIH-CP. This month we provide updates on CMS innovation grants recipients. Name Change The City of Mesa Fire and Medical Department is so serious about providing quality EMS care to its residents, the department changed its name to include medical. "We got so much praise for doing that it was incredible," Beck told an overflow crowd at the 2014 Firehouse World conference in San Diego. "Eighty per- cent of what we do in Mesa are EMS runs. Our city councilors were pleased that we finally accepted it." Read more at EMSWorld.com/11315858. T his past summer, the sec- ond round of Health Care Innovation Awards was distributed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). These are funding grants to applicants with compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improved care and lower costs to peo- ple enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Pro- gram (CHIP), particularly those with the highest healthcare needs. Follow- ing is an update on two of these recent grantees, the Mesa (AZ) Fire and Medi- cal Department and the Mount Sinai Medical Center (NY). Mobile Integrated Healthcare: Part 3