CHRC December 2015 newsletter

December 2015 Newsletter

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December 22, 2015  |  Issue No. 11

CHRC FY 2016 Call for Proposals generates 80 LOIs requesting $17.7M

CHRC Logo

Last month, the CHRC issued the FY 2016 Call for Proposals, which looks to support programs that will: (1) Expand capacity; (2) Reduce health disparities; and (3) Help reduce avoidable hospital costs.  The four types of projects targeted include: Promoting comprehensive women’s health services and reducing infant mortality rates; Expanding access to dental care; Integrating behavioral health service delivery and addressing the heroin and opioid epidemic; and Expanding access to primary and preventative care services and chronic disease management. The CHRC received 80 Letters of Intent requesting $17.7 million in year one funding.  One third of the Letters of Intent that were received came from first-time applicants, and approximately one-half (39) of the applicants have not received a grant from the CHRC in the past. Full grant proposals are due January 11, 2016, and grant award decisions are expected in mid-March.


The Mental Health Association of Frederick County utilizes CHRC grant to leverage additional support from Frederick Memorial Hospital

Mental Health Association of Frederick

The Mental Health Association of Frederick County, a private, not-for-profit agency, received a grant from CHRC in February 2014 to open a behavioral health walk-in center.  Since the center’s opening, the program has served 537 clients.  Of this total, 26% report they would have gone to the local ED if the walk-in center had not been an available option.  Funding from CHRC and the local CSA (Mental Health Management Agency) helped secure $15,000 in additional funds from Frederick Memorial Hospital to cover the staffing and operations cost of the center.  This program in Frederick is one of several projects that involve community-hospital partnerships that were initiated with initial “seed funding” provided by the CHRC. Click here for more information on Hospital-Community partnerships. 

In addition to the hospital funds, the Mental Health Association of Frederick County has received an award of $120,000 from the Stulman Foundation to help fund the transition of their group practice to an Outpatient Mental Health Clinic over the next two years.  They will also receive $15,000 in FY 16 funding and $30,000 in FY 17 from the Frederick County Government. These partnerships allow the program to offer the walk-in service at no cost to the client. 


CHRC invited to present to the Local Health Officer Roundtable

CHRC

The CHRC’s presentation to the Local Health Officer Roundtable earlier this month provided an overview of the history of CHRC, the impact of its funding, and the most recent CHRC Call for Proposals. To date, the CHRC has received requests for $276.2M and has awarded $52.3M in grant funding (does not include funding requests for current RFP/FY 2016).  Grantees have leveraged CHRC funds to obtain $18.8 million in additional funds, the bulk of which ($14.9 million) has come from private/non-profit resources. Click here to view the full CHRC presentation.


The Calvert Health Department and CHRC submit application to Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

CCHD and CHRC

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) released an RFP on October 29, 2015 which provides funding to as many as 10 applicants with objectives to (1) identify promising innovations to improve health being implemented in low-resource communities; (2) evaluate whether the innovations improve health care quality and health without increasing costs; and (3) disseminate these innovations as examples for other communities to implement. The CHRC partnered with the Calvert County Health Department (CCHD) to submit a preliminary proposal to RWJF for $250,000 to evaluate a Commission funded infant mortality program for substance abusing women. The program, funded by CHRC in 2014, provides wrap-around services for substance abusing women of childbearing age in an effort to reduce the number of pregnancies in this cohort and reduce the rates of substance abuse for women in the County. The grantee provided an update to the Governor's Heroin and Opioid Emergency Task Force which describes the impact of the program.  The CHRC-Calvert proposal to RWJ would evaluate the program’s reach, effectiveness of services offered, cost efficiency, and participant satisfaction. Full proposals for this initiative are due in March, with possible funding to begin in the summer of 2016. Click here for a summary of the CCHD and CHRC proposal.


MedStar Union Memorial Hospital and Total Health Care partner to provide primary care and care coordination services at new health center site

union and total

MedStar Union Memorial Hospital and Total Health Care collaborated to open a new health center site on the grounds of the hospital.  The partnership is supported by a two-year grant from the CHRC, which is supporting the salary costs of three patient navigators who are embedded in the hospital emergency department.  Total Health Care opened the site and began seeing patients on July 14, 2015.  The navigators provide services for patients visiting the emergency department seven days a week and work to connect the patients to ongoing primary care services at Total, which will serve as a medical home for these patients.  In the first few months of the program, 305 patients have received care at the new site. Total Health Care plans to provide a medical home for 3,000 uninsured or newly insured patients over a two-year time frame.   The Union Memorial Hospital and Total Health Care is one example of a program supported by the CHRC that involves diverting avoidable ED visits and linking individuals with routine and primary care in the community.  For more information about these types of grants, click here.