News
New York Communities Receive Funding for Community-Based Care Transitions ProgramsOn March 14, 2012 CMS announced their selection of 23 sites to participate in the Community-Based Care Transitions Program (CCTP). Four of these communities are located in New York State.
The CCTP is an initiative of the Partnership for Patients, a nationwide public-private partnership that aims to cut preventable errors in hospitals by 40 percent and reduce preventable hospital readmissions by 20 percent over a three-year period. CCTP's goals are to reduce hospital readmissions, test sustainable funding streams for care transition services, maintain or improve quality of care, and document measureable savings to the Medicare program.
The newly-selected sites will join seven other community-based organizations across the country already working with local hospitals and other healthcare and social service providers to support high-risk Medicare patients in maintaining the healing process as they transition from hospital stays to home, a nursing home, or other care setting.
IPRO, the Medicare Quality Improvement Organization for New York State, under contract with CMS, is providing technical assistance to New York State healthcare providers and community service stakeholders that partner together to provide interventions to improve care transitions across the healthcare continuum.
The New York communities include:
Lifespan of Greater Rochester Inc. will partner with four acute care hospitals; Rochester General, Unity, Strong Memorial, and Highland Hospitals; two home health agencies; two additional CBOs; and the Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency to provide care transition services to high-risk Medicare beneficiaries across four counties in Western New York State.
Brooklyn Care Transition Coalition in New York will provide transition services and assistance to Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries across 26 zip codes throughout northern and central areas of Brooklyn. The Cobble Hill Health Center will serve as the lead CBO, partnering with The Brooklyn Hospital Center, the Interfaith Medical Center, and Independent Living Systems, Inc.
P2 Collaborative of Western New York, Inc. will serve as the regional coordinating body for 10 community hospitals across seven rural counties in western New York: Brooks Memorial Hospital (Chautauqua); Jones Memorial Hospital (Allegany); Olean General Hospital (Cattaraugus); Orleans Community Health (Orleans); TLC Health Network Lake Shore Health Care Center (Chautauqua); United Memorial Medical Center (Genesee); Westfield Memorial Hospital (Chautauqua); WCA Hospital (Chautauqua), and Wyoming Community Hospital (Wyoming County). Each participating hospital will collaborate with a local CBO to build upon and expand existing care transition services for Medicare beneficiaries.
The Tompkins County Office for the Aging will act as the lead CBO for the Tomkins County Rural Community-based Care Transition Program (TCRCCTP). Serving the Finger Lakes region of rural Central New York, the TCRCCTP will work with Cayuga Medical Center, the County's sole hospital and multiple local host agencies to improve the quality of care and reduce avoidable hospitalizations among Medicare beneficiaries.
For more information on the Community-Based Care Transitions Program awardees please visit the CMS website at http://www.cms.gov/DemoProjectsEvalRpts/downloads/CCTPAwardeeSiteSummaries.pdf
Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare - Understanding Care Transitions as a Patient Safety Issue
The Remington Report featured an article profiling the IPRO Care Transitions Project in its May/June 2010 edition. Visit the site of our partners, the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care, to read the article.
In April 2009 IPRO honored a select group of healthcare providers in the Upper Capital Region who signed on to participate in the three-year project aimed at making dramatic improvements in care transitions and reducing avoidable re-admissions to hospitals.