Cardinal Health Foundation Awards $1 Million to Fund Patient Safety Initiatives
Dublin, OH, June 18, 200 — The Cardinal Health Foundation today announced it has awarded a total of $1 million in grant funding for new and innovative programs to improve patient safety at 35 hospitals, health systems and community health clinics across the country.
Grants of up to $35,000 per facility will provide funding for programs that implement creative and replicable methods to improve the quality of patient care. Examples of initiatives that received funding include: targeted screening for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), strategies to improve physician hand hygiene, electronic medical record implementation and medication safety and reconciliation projects.
The primary criterion for awarding the grants was that they address the National Quality Forum’s priority areas, specifically concentrating on the following areas:
- Eliminating health care associated infections (HAIs), specifically MRSA and C. difficile infection prevention and management, with the goal of reducing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), surgical site infections (SSI) and blood site infections (BSI) to zero
- Medication safety and reconciliation in forms ranging from prescribing correct medication to ensuring the right medication gets to the right patient at the right time and assuring information is communicated and understood at key transition points
“Medication safety and health care associated infections are two of the largest patient safety issues that health care organizations face every day, and the human toll and financial burden is escalating,” said Shelley Bird, chair of the Cardinal Health Foundation. “The Cardinal Health Foundation is committed to improving the overall effectiveness of health care, and we’re proud to support these institutions that are enhancing patient safety and the quality of care.”
Patient Safety Grant Projects include:
| Name | Location | Initiative |
| Albert Einstein Healthcare Network | Philadelphia, Pa. | SMASH (Stop MRSA Acquisition and Spread in our Hospitals) |
| Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Institute at The Ohio State University | Columbus, Ohio | Development of a Home Medication Documentation Interactive Training Program: Impact of Using Virtual Patient Modules to Improve Medication Reconciliation |
| Aurora Health Care | Milwaukee, Wis. | Targeted vs. Universal Screening for MRSA |
| Baylor Health Care System | Dallas, Texas | Implementing Strategies to Improve Physician Hand Hygiene Compliance |
| Christian Hospital (member of BJC HealthCare) | St. Louis, Mo. | Promoting Antibiotic Stewardship at Christian Hospital |
| Catholic Healthcare West | San Francisco, Calif. | Medication Reconciliation |
| CHRISTUS Spohn Foundation | Corpus Christi, Texas | High Priority Safety Program to Eliminate Hospital-Acquired Surgical Site Infections in patients with previously diagnosed diabetes and in undiagnosed patients who exhibit high blood sugar levels prior to surgery |
| CMH Regional Health System | Wilmington, Ohio | Improving Patient Safety at CMH: Reducing Medication Errors Through the Use of Technology |
| Community Memorial Hospital | Oconto Falls, Wis. | Enhanced Patient Discharge Program |
| DCH Regional Medical Center | Tuscaloosa, Ala. | Medication Reconciliation for Heart Failure Patients |
| East Alabama Medical Center | Opelika, Ala. | Applying Lean Principles to the Reduction of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections |
| Eastern Maine Medical Center | Bangor, Maine | Enhancing Patient Safety through Improved Communication (EPIC): A Program to Eliminate HAI and Medical Errors through Improved Communication and Teamwork in the Surgical Unit |
| Graceville Health Center | Graceville, Minn. | Implementing an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) System at Graceville Health Center |
| Huntington Memorial Hospital | Pasadena, Calif. | NICU Ventilator-Acquired Pneumonia Bundle Initiative |
| Inova Loudon Hospital | Falls Church, Va. | Evaluation of the Prevalence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Colonization in Pre-surgical Patients and Post-Operative Infections |
| Lamp Community | Los Angeles, Calif. | Medication Management Program |
| Lee Memorial Health System | Ft. Myers, Fla. | Implementing an innovative system-wide evidenced-based Asthma Management Program to ensure consistent, safe medication administration and reconciliation throughout the continuum of care |
| MaineHealth | Portland, Maine | Creating a Standardized, System-Level Discharge Planning and Medication Reconciliation Process |
| Medical Center of the Rockies Foundation | Fort Collins, Colo. | Eliminating healthcare-associated infections at Medical Center of the Rockies |
| Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases | New York, N.Y. | Reducing CDI through Interactive Patient Education |
| Meridian Health | Neptune, N.J. | Pharmacist Model of Care Demonstration Project |
| North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System, Inc. | Great Neck, N.Y. | National Clinical Outcomes Database in Anesthesiology |
| NorthShore University HealthSystem | Evanston, Ill. | Reduction in Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection Rates Using Observation-Education Teams and Electronic Medical Records |
| Ochsner Health System | New Orleans, La. | Improving Safety of Handling Breast Milk in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit |
| Piedmont Hospital | Atlanta, Ga. | Reducing Medication Errors through Pharmacist-led Reconciliation |
| Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute | La Jolla, Calif. | Systemwide Standardization of Glycemic Control Protocols |
| St. John Hospital and Medical Center | Detroit, Mich. | Developing a Process to Reduce Risk of Intravascular Catheter-Related Infections in the Non-intensive Care Units |
| St. Joseph Health System – Humboldt County | Eureka, Calif. | SJHS-HC Care Transition Program’s Medication Safety and Reconciliation Project |
| The Nebraska Medical Center | Omaha, Neb. | Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections Through Optimized Patient Care Environmental Cleaning and Disinfection |
| UCSF Medical Center | San Francisco, Calif. | Spreading Successful Innovation: Improving Medication Administration Accuracy |
| University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital | Birmingham, Ala. | Comparison of Chlorhexidine Rinse, Commercially Available Oral Care Kit, and Standard MICU Oral Care in the Reduction of VAP |
| University of Virginia Health System | Charlottesville, Va. | Randomized controlled trial of Hand Hygiene plus Gloving for the Prevention of Invasive Infections in Preterm Infants |
| Virginia Commonwealth University Health System | Richmond, Va. | Safety First, Every Day |
| Virginia Mason Medical Center | Seattle, Wash. | Optimizing Care Transitions through Medication Reconciliation |
| Wesley Medical Center | Wichita, Kan. | Electronic Patient Triage Development and Implementation Involving Nurse, Pharmacy Technician, and Pharmacist Obtained Medication Histories in the Emergency Department and Impact on Medication Reconciliation |
The Cardinal Health Foundation supports local, national and international programs that improve health care quality and build healthy communities. The Cardinal Health Foundation also offers grants to encourage employee service to the community and works through international agencies to donate much-needed medical supplies and funding to those who need them in times of disaster. To learn more, visit www.CardinalHealth.com/community.