New Grants Totaling Over $2.6 Million Approved by JAHF Board of Trustees
The John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees has approved funding for three grants totaling $2,630,296 to improve care for older adults and family caregivers.
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai: Scaling and Dissemination of Hospital at Home in the Time of COVID-19 and Beyond ($1,578,559 for 3 years)
This project will improve the care of older adults by expediting the dissemination of Hospital at Home, a model developed to safely and effectively provide hospital-level care in the home. Due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, there is heightened reason to favor acute care in the home and avoid hospitalization. The project team will continue to provide leadership and technical assistance through the national Hospital at Home User Group, assisting providers to successfully apply for and comply with the new CMS acute hospital care at home waiver. The project team will use this opportunity to further demonstrate the Hospital at Home model as a necessary care option in the time of COVID-19 and beyond.
Rush University Medical Center: A Model for Caregiver Health and Wellness in Age-Friendly Health Systems, Planning Grant ($537,691 for 18 months)
This planning project will test the implementation of a Caregiver Initiative developed by Rush University Medical Center that systematically engages family caregivers in the care of older adults by addressing the 4Ms of age-friendly care (What Matters, Medication, Mentation and Mobility) with both caregivers and their care recipients. More than 41 million caregivers provide care to older people in this country – including complex medical care – for which they receive little to no training, causing undue emotional and physical strain. Caregiver interventions can alleviate this burden, but few programs are established within health systems. In partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the Rush 4M-Caregiver Initiative will be piloted in five diverse sites leading to a dissemination plan to spread the model across the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement.
American College of Emergency Physicians: Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation: Expansion Phase II ($514,046 for 2 years)
This grant will expand and strengthen the American College of Emergency Physicians’ Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation program, which was designed to improve emergency care for older adults by promoting and recognizing adherence to specific geriatrics emergency care standards. The program will focus on two main priorities: 1) expanding accreditation from 201 emergency departments in 2020 to 500, with a special emphasis on rural and safety net hospitals; and 2) developing or strengthening collaborations with the Veterans Health Administration, the Indian Health Service, related emergency care organizations such as those representing the Emergency Medical Services, and national nursing home organizations to extend geriatrics emergency care beyond the walls of the emergency department.