State grants encourage quality improvement in Maryland through hospital collaboration

Eight multi-hospital partnerships in Maryland will share $2.5 million in planning grants from the state to develop programs aimed at enhancing quality and reducing costs, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.

The planning grants will be paid through hospital rates and are designed to help the hospitals find new ways to reduce readmissions, errors and costs in accordance with the new state-regulated payment model that emphasizes patient care outside the hospital.

One of the planning grant recipients is the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. With the grant, UMMC plans to explore the feasibility of creating a patient center for those with the most significant health needs and biggest hospital bills. The center would connect to other hospitals in the city, as well as skilled nursing facilities, primary care physicians and other resources.

"The concept is looking at patients in a holistic sort of way. If you did that in every healthcare setting it could be expensive," Donna Jacobs, senior vice president of government regulatory affairs and community health for the University of Maryland Medical System told the Baltimore Business Journal. "If you were able to share resources and put them in one location, would that make sense?"

To investigate this concept, UMMC has partnered with fellow Baltimore healthcare organizations, including Bon Secours Baltimore Health System, Saint Agnes Hospital and Keswick Multi-Care Center, which is a nursing home and rehabilitation center.

Johns Hopkins Hospital is another planning grant recipient in Baltimore. Johns Hopkins Hospitals aims to harness data from hospitals across city and state databases to better track patients who visit multiple hospitals, connect them with a case manager or community health worker and get them care closer to home at a clinic or primary care physician's office.

Patty Brown, senior vice president of managed care and population health for Johns Hopkins Medicine, estimates connecting patients with one-on-one services may cost anywhere between $200 and $400 per member per month, which may be worth the cost for patients with high monthly healthcare costs and ongoing health problems, according to the report.

 

 

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