MU Sinclair School of Nursing receives nearly $15 million for project to reduce re-hospitalizations of nursing home residents.
The University of Missouri Sinclair School of Nursing today announced a nearly $15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Led by Curators’ Professor of Nursing Marilyn Rantz, MU researchers will use the funds, distributed over four years, to implement a project aimed at reducing avoidable re-hospitalizations among nursing home residents. Insights gained from this project could provide a nationwide model for senior care and significantly reduce national health care spending.
“The term, ‘ecstatic,’ does not capture my current sentiment,” said Judith Fitzgerald Miller, dean of the Sinclair School of Nursing. “This is a transformational grant for the university and is congruent with our passion for excellence in health care. The care of older adults will be improved as a result of this work.”
The majority of nursing home residents are enrolled in Medicaid and most also participate in Medicare, CMS reports. Previous research suggests that nearly half of hospitalizations among nursing home residents enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid could have been avoided. These potentially avoidable hospitalizations amounted to more than $7 billion in 2011.
A video to accompany this story is available here: http://vimeo.com/52864829.
Reviewed 2013-01-23