Health

Discretionary Grants Awarded: 60
Amount: $1,977,589

FOCUS

A young boy gets a check-up from a Providence Community Health Centers health professional.

• Develop new ways for vulnerable Rhode Islanders to access primary care
  
  
• Provide access to affordable medications through primary care providers
  
  
• Support outreach around primary care and personal health responsibility
  
  
• Build a stronger primary care workforce
  
  
• Integrate oral and behavioral health services and the effective management of chronic conditions with primary care
  
  
• Develop policy around health insurance expansion and cost containment
  

Impact (highlights)

• There were six grant-funded projects to effectively manage chronic conditions:
• Clinica Esperanza/Hope Clinic received a $40,000 grant to open a new “free clinic” in the Olneyville section of Providence. It will serve an estimated 2,000 individuals without health insurance.
• With a $51,755 Foundation grant Rhode Island Hospital Foundation’s Yes! I Can be Healthy will serve 195 adults with diabetes by engaging patients in a

  The Palliative Care Team at Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island (Photo: Pam Taylor, Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island)

  group-based medical visit and education program.
• Foundation support of $75,400 will help Cornerstone Adult Services, Inc. expand its Community Partnership for Chronic Care to serve an additional 82 older adults with chronic conditions living in the community through collaborations with the primary care community.
• An $82,183 grant will allow Comprehensive Community Action Program to develop new approaches to engage adolescents disconnected from primary care. The project will serve 600 adolescents in CCAP's community health centers in Cranston and Warwick.
• A $90,000 Foundation grant supports Blackstone Valley Community Health Center’s project, Care Coordination: Integrating Team and Technology, will implement the patient-centered medical home model and prepare the health center for participation in the Chronic Care Sustainability Initiative, a program funded by the state's commercial insurers designed to demonstrate the benefit of primary care in managing three chronic conditions: diabetes, coronary artery disease, and depression.
• South County Hospital Healthcare System and its physician and community partners are working to develop a Patient Centered Medical Community as part of the statewide Chronic Care Sustainability Initiative. This $90,000 grant will help South County Hospital and six community primary care practices lay the groundwork for working together in this effort.
  

  Rapid Access Rhode Island: “Rhode Island Foundation support has allowed Blackstone Valley Community Health Care to expand patient services to include Saturday and Sunday walk in visits. Prompt patient access allows BVCHC to offer a cost effective alternative to Emergency Department visits.” Raymond Lavoie, Executive Director Blackstone Valley Community Health Center

  
  
• Five grant-funded projects helped in the development of important pieces of policy:
• Projects include an $87,631 grant to the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for promoting Primary Career Choices in Rhode Island. This project will connect third and fourth year medical students with new developments in primary care through partnerships with practicing physicians.
• The Rhode Island Health Center Association (RIHCA) received $75,000 in funding to develop the Patient Centered Medical Home Collaborative. Funding will support community health centers to achieve the goal of Level II NCQA Patient Centered Medical Home Accreditation. This medical home initiative will provide approximately half of the 10 health centers with resources to pay the application fees and for RIHCA to establish a medical home collaborative that is focused on the unique needs and varying levels of readiness among the community health centers.
• Ocean State Action Fund ($25,000), HealthRIght ($50,000), and Rhode Island Public Radio ($75,000) will advocate for health care reform and will cover developments in health reform in Rhode Island.
  
  
• Seven physicians new to the practice of primary care in the state have been supported through the Primary Care Loan Forgiveness Program, a collaborative of the Rhode Island Medical Society, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority, the Foundation, and other groups.
  
  
• There were eight grant-funded projects totaling $486,134 that serve Rhode Island’s blind, elderly, disabled, or those who have severe or persistent mental illness or cancer. Recipients included the Foundation Fighting Blindness, CareLink, Homefront Health Care, Home and Hospice Care of Rhode Island, and Providence Clubhouse Development Group.