NEW ORLEANS – Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that Ochsner Clinic Foundation is one of 26 organizations receiving a Health Care Innovation Award. The awards, which were made possible by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, are funding up to $1 billion in grants to applicants who will implement the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improved care and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs.
Utilizing the Innovation Award, Ochsner will focus on better serving almost 1000 acute stroke patients in Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes by employing two telemedicine enabled concepts called “Stroke Central” and “Stroke Mobile.” These systems will enable care providers to monitor patients, evaluate outcomes, and check on medication and treatment adherence on a real-time basis both in the hospital and in the home. The program will continue to monitor patients over a 12 month period resulting in improved quality of life, improved acute stroke management and reduced complications. The Comprehensive Stroke Care Model is estimated to save almost $5 million over the next three years. Ochsner, which is ranked by HealthGrades as the #1 stroke program in Louisiana, currently provides telestroke services for 14 community hospitals and has performed over 1,200 patients.
"This is a win for the people of Louisiana,” said Warner Thomas, President and COO of Ochsner Health System. “This is an opportunity for even better care to patients who have suffered strokes. It also is an example how Ochsner can combine its most valuable resources in clinical care with our expertise in research, to bring funding for such an important project."
Preliminary awardees were chosen not only for their innovative solutions to the health care challenges facing their communities, but also for their focus on creating a well-trained health care workforce that is equipped to meet the need for new jobs in the 21st century health system. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the health care and social assistance sector will gain the most jobs between now and 2020.
The first batch of awardees’ projects include collaborations of leading hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, technology innovators, community-based organizations, and patients’ advocacy groups, among others, located in urban and rural areas that will begin work this year to address health care issues in local communities. This initiative allows applicants to come up with their best ideas to test how we can quickly and efficiently improve the quality and affordability of health care.
“We can’t wait to support innovative projects that will save money and make our health care system stronger,” said Secretary Sebelius. “It’s yet another way we are supporting local communities now in their efforts to provide better care and lower cost.”
The awards total $122.6 million. CMS’ Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation is administering these awards through cooperative agreements over 3 years.
To learn more about other innovative models being tested by the CMS Innovation Center, please visit: www.innovation.cms.gov.
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Ochsner Health System is southeast Louisiana’s largest non-profit, academic, multi-specialty, healthcare delivery system with eight hospitals and over 38 health centers in Louisiana. Ochsner has been named the Consumer Choice for Healthcare in New Orleans for 16 consecutive years and is the only Louisiana hospital recognized by U.S. News and World Report as a “Best Hospital” across seven specialty categories. Ochsner employs more than 13,000 employees, over 850 physicians in over 90 medical specialties and subspecialties and conducts over 300 clinical research trials annually. Ochsner Health System is proud to be a tobacco-free environment. For more information, please visit ochsner.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
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