Cardinal Health Awards $1 Million to Fund Patient Safety Initiatives
34 Organizations Receive Grants from Largest and First-of-Its-Kind Fund in Private Sector
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 10, 2008 — To support initiatives that enhance patient safety and quality of care, Cardinal Health announced today grants totaling $1 million for new and innovative programs at 34 hospitals, health systems and community health clinics across the country. This program is the largest and first of its kind given by a health care company.
The awards were announced today by Cardinal Health Chairman and CEO R. Kerry Clark at a briefing at the National Press Club on Quality as a Path to Improving the Cost of Health Care in America.
Grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 will provide funding for programs that implement creative and replicable methods to improve the quality of patient care. Initiatives that received funding include a regional, collaborative program to reduce Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) in New Mexico, an initiative to create the largest national clinical outcomes database to define, measure and benchmark the highest standards of practice in anesthesiology and a hospital in New Jersey using pre-labeled and pre-filled insulin pens to reduce errors in insulin administration.
More than 10 percent (700 organizations) of the nation’s hospitals applied for the grants. In choosing recipients, Cardinal Health looked for projects that respond to a clearly identified, high priority safety issue; collaborative programs; projects that apply new thinking and approaches to development of solutions; model programs that can be replicated at other organizations and demonstrable and sustainable measures to ensure that improvements last over time.
“I believe the health care industry can use quality improvements as a strategy to achieve lower costs and provide safer care for our citizens,” said Clark. 'Fixing health care is not a simple task, but we have it within our control to take simple steps that can have a dramatic effect.”
According to the Institute of Medicine, medication mistakes injure more than 1.5 million patients each year, causing nearly 100,000 deaths and costing the health care industry more than $3.5 billion. The 34 grant recipients are tackling these and other quality issues to improve patient safety.
Patient Safety Grant Projects include:
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Name |
Location |
Initiative |
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Avera McKenna Hospital & University Health Center |
Sioux Falls, S.D. |
Saving lives in rural communities |
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Cambridge Health Alliance |
Boston |
Redefining and redesigning hospital discharge |
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Catholic Healthcare Partners |
Cincinnati |
Configure medication use system using Pyxis automation technologies |
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Children’s Hospital Central California |
Madera, Calif. |
Mind the gap: healthy literacy initiative |
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Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Wayne State University |
Detroit |
Monitoring of end tidal CO2
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Cincinnati Children’s Hospital |
Cincinnati |
Partnering with families to improve patient safety |
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Community Medical Centers |
Fresno, Calif. |
Patient quality / safety monitoring program
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DCH Regional Medical Center |
Tuscaloosa, Ala. |
Early predictor of critical health status using SWAT intervention |
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Fairmont General Hospital |
Fairmont, W.Va. |
Anticoagulation clinic |
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Geisinger Clinic |
Danville, Pa. |
Adverse drug event assessment using electronic health record |
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Holy Cross Hospital |
Silver Spring, Md. |
Crew resource management |
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Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania |
Philadelphia |
The role of end tidal CO2 |
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Indianapolis Health Information Exchange |
Indianapolis |
Smart pump informatics: comparing Alaris database |
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Lee Memorial Health System Foundation |
Fort Myers, Fla. |
Structured response through integration of best practice nursing interventions and tools to prevent hospital-acquired pressure ulcers |
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Mackinac Straits Hospital and Health Center |
St. Ignace, Mich. |
Coumadin therapy monitoring
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MeritCare Health Systems |
Fargo, N.D. |
Advanced medical home with pharmacist intervention |
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Montefiore Medical Center |
Bronx, N.Y. |
Electronic decision support for prevention of venous thromboembolic disease |
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Nationwide Children's Hospital Foundation |
Columbus, Ohio |
Fall prevention program in hospitalized children |
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New York Presbyterian Hospital |
New York |
Educating family caregivers - catheter related infections |
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North Shore – Long Island Jewish Health System |
Great Neck, N.Y. |
National clinical outcomes database in anesthesiology |
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Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center |
Bronx, N.Y. |
Warfarin: Overseeing current practice and implementing measures for safe use |
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Palomar Pomerado North County Health Development |
Escondido, Calif. |
Adverse Drug Event evaluation project
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Providence Hospital |
Mobile, Ala. |
Antibiotic prophylaxis in cardiac surgery: The effects of obesity on serum levels during surgery |
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Rady Children's Hospital & Health Center |
San Diego |
Improving pediatric anticoagulation safety |
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Rush University Medical Center |
Chicago |
Prospective model for identifying patients at risk for catheter-associated urinary tract infections |
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Saint Barnabas Medical Center Foundation |
West Orange, N.J. |
Insulin therapy risk reduction program |
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Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Foundation (2) |
San Jose, Calif. |
(1) Improve the survival rate of very low birth weight infants; and (2) Building a safe bridge between inpatient and outpatient settings for anticoagulation |
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Sunrise Community Health |
Evans, Colo. |
Integration of patient care: Pharmacy and EHR |
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University Medical Center of Southern Nevada |
Las Vegas |
Antibiotic stewardship/infection control program |
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University of California |
San Diego |
Safety and health improvement project |
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University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center |
Albuquerque, N.M. |
Regional collaborative program to reduce MRSA in New
Mexico |
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Wellmont Health System |
Kingsport, Tenn. |
Safest hospital initiative |
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Whidbey General Hospital Foundation |
Whidbey Island, Wash. |
Infection control bundles |
In addition to the corporate commitment to patient safety, the Cardinal Health Foundation has provided more than $10 million for significant health care initiatives since its inception in 2002. Many of these have a special focus on patient safety including:
- Serving as a lead sponsor for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 100,000 Lives and 5 Million Lives Campaigns.
- Funding important patient safety initiatives in partnership with leading national and regional organizations, such as the National Quality Forum, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the Maryland Patient Safety Center.
- Development of a national poison prevention campaign focused on medication safety in partnership with SafeKids Worldwide.
About Cardinal Health
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) is an $87 billion, global company serving the health-care industry with products and services that help hospitals, physician offices and pharmacies reduce costs, improve safety, productivity and profitability, and deliver better care to patients. With a focus on making supply chains more efficient, reducing health care-associated infections and breaking the cycle of harmful medication errors, Cardinal Health develops market-leading technologies, including Alaris
® IV pumps, Pyxis
® automated dispensing systems, MedMined™ electronic infection surveillance service, VIASYS
® respiratory care products and the CareFusion™ patient identification system. The company also manufactures medical and surgical products and is one of the largest distributors of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies worldwide. Ranked No. 19 on the Fortune 500, Cardinal Health employs more than 40,000 people on five continents. More information about the company may be found at
www.cardinalhealth.com.
