Cleveland project wins $12.7 million Innovation award

An Ohio-based project is one of 26 that was awarded a Health Care Innovation Award, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovationannounced earlier this week (Source: “Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital gets $12.7 million federal award,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 8, 2012).

HHS Director Kathleen Seblius announced Tuesday that the care coordination project for children enrolled in Medicaid organized by Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland will get a $12.7 million federal grant. The project is titled “Transforming pediatric ambulatory care: the physician extension team (PET).”

According to the CMMI announcement, “the intervention will offer health care advice, referrals, and care coordination services through telehealth and home nurse hotlines; provide practice-tailored facilitation for primary care providers; and provide financial incentives to primary care physicians who reach quality performance targets, agree to offer extended hours, and make themselves available to treat these vulnerable children.”

Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital is partnering on the project with Ohio Medicaid, CareSource, WellCare, 4 community mental health agencies, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland Schools, Head Start, InstantCare, and HealthSpot.

“We are changing the health care delivery system for all pediatric patients and improving child health overall,” said Leona Cuttler, MD, UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital’s Director of the Center for Child Health and Policy, Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism and Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in a news release. “Our goal with the PET model is develop a sustainable coordinated system that improves the quality of outpatient care for children, increases their access to physicians, improves pediatric behavioral health services, decreases unnecessary emergency visits and hospitalizations and advances the health and functionality of children with complex chronic conditions.”