Vermont Business Magazine In 2019, OneCare Vermont (OneCare) Accountable Care Organization (ACO) anticipates awarding up to $1,000,000 in competitive grant funding, over two funding cycles, to organizations in the ACO Network and their partners, with the goal of improving the quality, cost, and experience of healthcare for Vermonters.
Sara Barry, Senior Director of Value Base Care at OneCare, shared, “Vermont has been a national leader in testing innovations in healthcare delivery and payment reform, so we’re excited to continue to push the boundaries of reform efforts through this new funding opportunity.”
In late December 2018, OneCare released the first of two requests for proposals (RFPs) for the Innovation Fund. In January 2019, 45 proposals were submitted from across 11 of Vermont’s 14 counties, as well as from the Upper Valley in New Hampshire. The selections were made by OneCare’s Board of Managers’ Population Health Strategy Committee and approved by the Board of Managers that includes representatives from throughout the state and the full spectrum of care providers. Three proposals were selected for funding in the first round.
- Youth Psychiatric Urgent Care Model, serving the Bennington community
- Ocular Telehealth in Primary Care, serving Addison county
- Community Embedded Well Child Care for Refugee Communities, serving the Burlington community
Youth Psychiatric Urgent Care Model – The proposal, submitted by Bennington’s United Counseling Service and Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), is to start a child psychiatric urgent care center that will serve as an alternative to the emergency room for children and adolescents with an urgent mental or behavioral health issue. “As a recipient of the Innovation Fund we are very proud to partner with SVMC to provide an urgent care option for children in crisis,” says Lorna Mattern, Executive Director of the United Counseling Service. “Rather than turning to the Emergency Room, children and adolescents (and their caregivers) will access urgent mental health services in a setting that is much more appropriate for the type of care they need. The urgent care model will allow us to better meet the needs of children and adolescents in our community.”
Jill Maynard, Director of Nursing for the Emergency Department at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center added, “We are extremely grateful to be a recipient of OneCare’s Innovation Funding. This dynamic statewide strategy will allow SVMC, in partnership with United Counseling Service, the opportunity to increase access to mental health services for families in our community.”
Ocular Telehealth in Primary Care – University of Vermont Health Network Porter Medical Center in Middlebury and the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington are partnering to use technology to provide eye care for adult patients with diabetes. The project will supply cameras to rural Addison county primary care clinics that take automated retinal images for the annual eye exam for patients with diabetes. The images will be read and feedback provided by a retinal specialist.
The project team shared, “The tele-ophthalmology program we are able to pilot will be life changing for some patients: By being able to meet the patient where they are and offer them a service they might not otherwise be able to receive could impact their lives in more than just respect to their health. Further, by being on the cutting edge of medical care, we are able to serve our communities to a greater extent. We are honored to be able to play a part in this.”
Community Embedded Well Child Care for Refugee Communities – Through this project, The University of Vermont Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric New American Clinic (PNAC) will spearhead a community-based clinic for 0- to 5-year-old well child care and will partner with Janet S. Munt Family Room in Burlington, VT to hire and train Family Strengthening Workers (FSWs) to increase families’ overall wellbeing through group-based guidance on a range of topics. The PNAC, a nationally recognized model of care for refugees and immigrants, supports children and families to thrive through offering comprehensive, family-centered, medical care. By connecting FSWs to families struggling with poverty, employment, housing, and related stressors, medical providers essentially “wrap” the family within a holistic approach that aims to address not only acute needs but the root causes of medical conditions.
“We’re very grateful to have OneCare’s support as we develop a model of care that aims to create a community of parents who can learn from and support each other as they manage the challenges of raising children in a new country,” says Dr. Andrea Green, Director of the Pediatric New American Clinic and Pediatrician.
“We were honored to receive so many high quality proposals in this first round of applications and thank all of our providers and partners who invested time and energy in submitting their ideas. We believe the best ideas for improving healthcare will come from our providers, and we can’t wait to see what is submitted in the second round,” said Sara Barry, Senior Director of Value Based Care.
The RFP for second round of funding for the Innovation Fund will be announced in June 2019. For more information, please contact: [email protected]
About OneCare Vermont ACO
OneCare is an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) working with Medicare (Next Generation Model), Vermont Medicaid, Commercial, and Self-Funded insurance programs to improve the health of Vermonters and lower health care costs. Established as an ACO in 2013 by Dartmouth-Hitchcock and the University of Vermont Medical Center, in 2019 the OneCare network includes the communities of Bennington, Brattleboro, Burlington, Lebanon, Middlebury, Montpelier, Newport, Randolph, Rutland, Springfield, St. Albans, St. Johnsbury, and Windsor. OneCare Vermont comprises an extensive network of providers, including hospitals in Vermont and New Hampshire, hundreds of primary and specialty care physicians, skilled nursing facilities, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Home Health Agencies, Area Agencies on Aging, and Designated Agencies for Mental