Sen. Carper Encourages Delaware Health Care Facilities to Utilize Partnership for Patients Program

WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) encouraged Delaware hospitals and other health care provider organizations to apply for additional funding to improve care and stop millions of preventable injuries and complications related to health care acquired conditions and unnecessary readmissions. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that up to $500 million in Partnership for Patients funding, made available by the Affordable Care Act, will be awarded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center through a solicitation and other procurements for federal contracts to health care facilities throughout the nation.

“This announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services signals a wonderful opportunity to strengthen care and make health services more efficient,” Sen. Carper said. “This partnership—a provision of the Affordable Care Act—allows the State of Delaware, Delaware hospitals, and many Delaware health providers to apply for funding as Hospital Engagement Contractors; and through working hand-in-hand with the Department, these organizations will improve the safety of patients across Delaware.”

The Partnership for Patients is a new public-private partnership that will help improve the quality, safety, and affordability of health care for all Americans. The Partnership’s two goals are reducing harm in hospital settings by 40-percent and reducing hospital readmissions by 20- percent over a 3-year period. To achieve these goals, the Partnership is seeking to contract with large health care systems, associations, state organizations, or other interested parties to support hospitals in the hard work of redesigning care processes to reduce harm. “Hospital Engagement Contractors” will be asked to conduct the following:

• Design intensive programs to teach and support hospitals in making care safer;

• Conduct trainings for hospitals and care providers;

• Provide technical assistance for hospitals and care providers; and

• Establish and implement a system to track and monitor hospital progress in meeting quality improvement goals.

In addition to the Hospital Engagement Contractors, CMS will also be working with other contractors to develop and share ideas and practices that improve patient safety. These efforts include work with patients and families to understand their thoughts on how to best improve patient safety and transitions between different health care settings – such as when a patient is discharged from a hospital to a nursing home.

These contracts make available the first round of funding – which will ultimately total up to $500 million – that the Innovation Center has committed to this effort. Solicitations for proposals are available on the Federal Business Opportunities website at: www.fbo.gov.

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