The John A. Hartford Foundation Receives Federal Social Innovation Fund Grant to Expand IMPACT Depression Care Model
The John A. Hartford Foundation announced today that it has received a multi-year, multi-million dollar Social Innovation Fund (SIF) award for a program to improve depression care in medically underserved rural communities in Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. With matching funds from the Foundation and local sub-grantees that will implement the IMPACT depression care model, the total initiative will represent almost $11 million in new funding for improved depression care for low-income older adults. IMPACT is based at the University of Washington AIMS (Advancing Integrated Mental Health Solutions) Center, led by Dr. Jurgen Unutzer. The full press release can be found here.
The John A. Hartford Foundation announced today that it has received a multi-year, multi-million dollar Social Innovation Fund (SIF) award for a program to improve depression care in medically underserved rural communities in Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. The SIF, which is an initiative of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), awarded the Foundation a two-year, $2 million grant. In the program’s third year, the Foundation will be eligible for an additional $1 million in CNCS funding, which it will also match. SIF grants require additional matching funds from local sub-grantees, which will result in another $3 million in investments over the next two years. With renewal by CNCS and additional third-year local matching funds, the total initiative will represent almost $11 million in new funding for improved depression care for low-income older adults. Although it is one of the most common and disabling health conditions and is known to double overall health care costs, depression remains chronically under-diagnosed and ineffectively treated.
Through an innovative public-private partnership with the federal government and the University of Washington, the Foundation will redistribute the combined funds to local nonprofit community health clinics across the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) region to help them implement Project IMPACT, a highly successful evidence-based depression care model based at the University of Washington.
The IMPACT model (Improving Mood – Promoting Access to Collaborative Treatment) brings depression care to primary care settings and uses a team approach that doubles the results of usual depression care. Created by Jürgen Unützer, MD, MPH, MA, Director of the University of Washington’s Advancing Integrated Mental Health Solutions (AIMS) Center, IMPACT has been supported with Hartford Foundation grants for over a decade. IMPACT’s benefits were originally documented in a $10 million multi-site randomized clinical trial co-funded with the California HealthCare Foundation and published in The Journal of the American Medical Association and the British Medical Journal.
The full press release can be found here.
For program-related questions, please contact Wally Patawaran, Program Officer, at wally.patawaran@jhartfound.org or call 212-832-7788.
