Grant For UMass ER Program
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation has awarded $123,741 to a UMass Memorial Medical Center program designed to help frequent emergency room users get care more efficiently.
The grant was part of a $1.5 million package of awards from the foundation given to organizations across the state that are trying to control health care costs and improve quality.
The UMass program, MyLink, is being run by Community Healthlink, part of UMass's behavioral health services. The program targets 276 people who visited UMass's two emergency rooms in Worcester more than 10 times in a year without being admitted.
These "high user" patients will be connected with a community support worker who will meet them in an emergency room and also maintain regular contact with them to help meet their basic needs and avert emergencies. Emergency departments will flag the patients in the program and contact MyLink when they visit the emergency room.
The project plans to expand into Worcester's Saint Vincent Hospital and UMass-affiliated HealthAlliance Hospital in Leominster in 2013.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments