Kaiser, Dignity Grant Nearly $10 Million
Two of California's biggest providers announced community grants this week with a combined worth of nearly $10 million.
Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente announced a grant worth $5.25 million that is earmarked toward improving cardiac and stroke prevention care in Northern California, while San Francisco-based Dignity Health announced grants totaling more than $4 million.
The Kaiser money will go toward community-level implementation of Kaiser's PHASE program (Preventing Heart Attacks and Strokes) over the next two years.
PHASE has two components. The first is to identify patients with heart disease or who are at risk for developing the condition, typically those age 55 or older with diabetes. They are then prescribed baby aspirin, a lipid-lowering statin, and a blood-pressure lowering ACE-inhibitor that is combined into a single pill. They are also counseled on making lifestyle changes, such as changing to a heart-healthy diet, engaging in regular exercise, and smoking cessation.
“Before PHASE, treating people with heart disease could require many office visits and phone calls — as the patient and physician worked together to find the right combination of medications and behavior modifications,” said Marc Jaffe, M.D., an endocrinologist and internist with Kaiser Permanente's South San Francisco hospital. “This made it difficult for some members to stick with their treatment plan.”
By contrast, the PHASE program has helped cut heart attacks and stroke-related hospital admissions among Kaiser's Northern California enrollees by 60% since it was implented in 2002, officials said. The program was rolled out to community clinics in Northern California in 2006, where about 35,000 individuals have been enrolled to date.
The grants, which range in size from $125,000 to $600,000, are earmarked to 17 community clinics to expand the PHASE program. Ten of the recipients already have PHASE in place; seven clinics are new to the program.
The money will be used to expand the existing program capacity by 30% to 50%, or to include a component for treating hypertension. They money is also being earmarked to provide training to expand it into the surrounding communities, or to streamline processes related to PHASE implementation, such as improving care coordination at clinics or introducing electronic health record systems.
“By taking the best of what’s working for our members and sharing it with the larger health care community, we are also beginning to develop a more efficient care delivery model that results in better health,” Jaffe said.
The Dignity Health grants total $4.3 million. They will go to community health organizations in California, Nevada and Arizona. Dignity operates 39 hospitals in those three states, including 31 throughout California. Altogether, there were 70 recipients statewide.
The grants, which range in size from $2,500 to well into the six figures, will focus on improving chronic medical conditions, as well as collateral issues that may aggravate them, such as homelessness.
“Helping create a healthy community is critical to our mission and helps prevent life altering chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease from the beginning,” said Dignity Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Dean. “We are proud to support organizations that are making impactful changes that support healthful lifestyles and access to quality care in our communities.”
Some of the recipients include Northern California Child Development, Inc. in Red Bluff, the Legal Aid Society of San Bernardino and the Merced County Rescue Mission.
Not all recipients had been notified of their largesse as of Wednesday, according to Dignity spokesperson Lauren Davis, which is why the hospital operator had not released a full list of recipients in conjunction with its public announcement.
