Twenty-five small Iowa hospitals will soon join efforts to track and coordinate care of chronically ill patients, thanks to a $10 million federal grant to the Mercy hospital system, hospital leaders said Wednesday.
The three-year grant was part of $26 million in new Iowa grants made under the Affordable Care Act.
Dr. David Swieskowski, a Mercy administrator, said his company’s grant would help small hospitals prepare to join the Des Moines-based system’s Accountable Care Organization. Such organizations carefully track how patients are faring, especially if they have chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure or congestive heart failure.
Proponents say, ACOs should save significant money by preventing severe illnesses and expensive hospitalizations.
Here are the hospitals that will be affected by Mercy’s grant: Adair County Memorial Hospital; Audubon Memorial Hospital; Clarinda Regional Hospital; Dallas County Hospital; Davis County Hospital; Ellsworth Hospital; Franklin General Hospital; Grinnell Regional Hospital; Hancock County Memorial Hospital; Hawarden Community Hospital; Howard County Regional Health Services; Knoxville Hospital; Kossuth Regional Medical Center; Madison County Memorial Hospital; Manning Regional Hospital; Mercy-Centerville; Mercy-New Hampton; Mercy-North Iowa; Mercy-Sioux City; Mitchell County Hospital; Monroe County Hospital; Palo Alto County Hospital; Ringgold County Hospital; Wayne County Hospital; Van Diest Medical Center (Webster City).
The federal government also awarded similar grants Wednesday of $7 million to the Association of American Medical Colleges and nearly $9 million to Avera Health out of Sioux Falls, S.D. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin’s office said both of those grants also would help improve care for rural Iowans.
Date: 9 July, 2014