New Grants Totaling $4.5 Million Approved by John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees
The John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees has approved funding for eight grants totaling $4,534,763 to address COVID-19 in nursing homes, spread age-friendly care, support family caregivers, and increase access to serious illness care.
Two urgent response grants were authorized earlier this spring to protect nursing home residents and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. An additional six grants were approved in June across our three priority areas: age-friendly health systems, family caregiving and serious illness and end-of-life care.
Urgent Response Grants:
Institute for Healthcare Improvement: COVID-19 Rapid Response Network for Nursing Homes ($299,010 for 6 months)
This grant supports nursing home residents, families, and staff impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), as part of the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative, has launched the COVID-19 Rapid Response Network for Nursing Homes. The Rapid Response Network aims to reduce COVID-19 infections, deaths and other harms among nursing home residents by engaging facilities as participants in the Age-Friendly Health Systems movement and providing access to best practices related to COVID-19 care. The activities include a daily National Nursing Home Huddle to provide real-time, pragmatic solutions that can be implemented in nursing homes to solve many of the key problems brought about or exacerbated by COVID-19.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine: The Quality of Care in Nursing Homes in the 21st Century (up to $1.2 million for 18 months)
To examine how our nation delivers, regulates, finances, and measures the quality and safety of nursing homes, with special emphasis on challenges raised by the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) is establishing a nursing home study. The committee will consider a broad range of issues including: policies and care models to promote care innovation, structural design, operations management, staff training, emergency preparedness and inclusion of family caregivers. Working with health professionals, scientists and other experts, NASEM will obtain authoritative, objective, and scientifically balanced answers to difficult questions. The committee will develop a set of consensus findings and recommendations to ensure that high-quality care is consistently provided to all nursing home residents, and to ensure the safety of nursing home residents and staff.
Grants Approved in June:
University of California, San Francisco: Implementation, Scaling and Impact of the 4Ms in an IT-enabled Health Care System ($1,010,967 for two years)
This project will rigorously assess implementation of the Age-Friendly Health Systems 4Ms framework and identify barriers and evidence of impact in four health systems: University of California, San Francisco; University of Utah; Providence; and Anne Arundel Medical Center. The project team will also track and measure outcomes as older adults move between hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and home. The final component of this grant will be devoted to dissemination of lessons learned about implementation, barriers to scale, and evidence of impact...