Atrium Health Foundation Receives $1.1 Million Grant
CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 2, 2018 – Atrium Health Foundation has received a $1.1 million grant award from The Duke Endowment to improve cardiac care at Atrium Health.
The grant – the largest The Duke Endowment has ever awarded to the Foundation – will fund the Perfect Care: Personalized Cardiac Care and Collaborative, a novel initiative that Atrium Health’s Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute will pilot in six hospitals within its network. The initiative aims to improve patient access and education, as well as eliminate disparities in follow-up cardiac care after surgery. It will be the first of its kind in the nation focused on engaging patients and their families through remote monitoring.
The new Perfect Care initiative seeks to address the specific actions or activities that must occur at each phase of a cardiac patient’s care, integrating newer technologies such as wearable passive monitors to assist in achieving high-quality outcomes. The program will emphasize post-acute care, which is when patients can be most vulnerable. Care teams will break down barriers to care specific to those with limited social support and financial resources by bringing health care directly to patients outside of hospital walls.
As the initiative expands, Perfect Care aims to develop a collaborative for health care teams around the Carolinas to learn together and continuously improve the quality, safety and value of cardiac care – hence “perfecting care.” Teams will develop new patient reported outcomes (PROs) and continuously improve the PROs as well as mortality and morbidity rates.
“We are the first health system in the country to implement this patient-centered monitoring approach with a multi-institutional learning collaborative for cardiac services,” said Kevin Lobdell, MD, Atrium Health’s director of regional Cardiac, Vascular and Thoracic Surgery (CVT) quality, education and research.
In year one, the program will launch at Carolinas Medical Center, Carolinas HealthCare System Pineville and Carolinas HealthCare System Northeast, with the intent to expand to three other major Atrium facilities over the next two years. Program leaders estimate that nearly 10,000 patients could be impacted by Perfect Care.
“Once developed, this approach could serve as the standard for the peri-procedural home both within Atrium Health’s 40 plus hospitals and for other health systems across the country,” said Dr. Lobdell.
About The Duke Endowment The Duke Endowment is one of the nation’s largest private foundations, with assets of $3.5 billion. Since 1924, the organization has worked to help people and strengthen communities in North Carolina and South Carolina by nurturing children, promoting health, educating minds and enriching spirits. Over the last three decades, The Duke Endowment has proven to be a substantial and visionary supporter of healthcare initiatives in the Carolinas and has provided nearly $20 million in grants to Carolinas HealthCare Foundation.
About Atrium Health Atrium Health, previously Carolinas HealthCare System, one of the nation’s leading and most innovative healthcare organizations, provides a full spectrum of healthcare and wellness programs throughout North and South Carolina. Its diverse network of care locations includes academic medical centers, hospitals, freestanding emergency departments, physician practices, surgical and rehabilitation centers, home health agencies, nursing homes and behavioral health centers, as well as hospice and palliative care services. Atrium Health works to enhance the overall health and wellbeing of its communities through high quality patient care, education and research programs, and numerous collaborative partnerships and initiatives.