The Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC) http://mhcc.maryland.gov is awarding one or more grants for a pilot titled “Telehealth Technology Pilot—Round 4”. The grant funding will study the impact of using telehealth technology to support primary care in different communities and patient populations. The total funding for this grant is $90,000 for an 18 month period with the grant applications due to MHCC on April 12, 2016.
Last year in June 2015, the MHCC awarded three telehealth grants to study the impact of remote patient monitoring on hospital readmission in various settings to reduce hospital encounters. A total of $80,000 was awarded with a 2:1 match required of each grantee.
The three telehealth projects awarded in 2015 and scheduled for completion in the summer of 2016 are going to use telehealth technology. Also, the grantees are required to use a nationally certified EHR and services of the State-Designated HIE, called the “Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients” (CRISP).
One of the grantees Lorien Health Systems in Howard Country, a skilled nursing facility and residential service agency, is using telehealth to address hospital Prevention Quality Indicator (PQI) conditions, including uncontrolled diabetes, congestive heart failure, and hypertension among patients discharged from the skilled nursing facility to home.
The project provides 24/7 access to a care coordinator and installs telemonitoring devices in patients’ homes. Continuous monitoring and case management is available for clients where four have uncontrolled diabetes, five have chronic heart failure, and 13 have high blood pressure.
The second grant was awarded to Crisfield Clinic in Somerset County. The Clinic is a family practice clinic using mobile health devices to help middle school and high school patients manage chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes, childhood obesity, and behavioral health issues. The goal is to improve patient data metrics, reduce lost school days, reduce emergency room visits, and improve the patient’s self-perception of their health.
The Clinic uses a Community Health Worker (CHW) to facilitate care coordination. The CHW’s role is to keep in contact with patients, collect and analyze data from mobile health devices, and contact patients if the data is not within the normal range.
The third grant was awarded to Union Hospital of Cecil County in Cecil County to use telehealth to address several hospital PQI conditions. These PQI conditions include diabetes, COPD, hypertension, heart failure, and asthma among patients discharged from the hospital to home.
The hospital also provides chronic care patients with mobile tablets and peripheral devices to capture blood pressure, pulse, and weight, and provides patient education to facilitate patient monitoring.
Go to http://mhcc.maryland.gov/mhcc/pages/home/news/announcements.aspx?id=0 to view the details in the RFP “Telehealth Technology Pilot. For more information, email lynn.albizo@maryland.gov