Round 2 of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Health Care Innovation Awards have officially kicked off, after the announcement Thursday of its first group of prospective winners. 

 

With the end goal of trying out new, innovative care models, the 12 potential recipients unveiled Thursday could together receive up to $110 million – $2 million to $18 million per winner over three years. The second batch of nominees will be revealed in the coming months. 

 

[See also: HHS gives out 81 innovation awards.]

 

Round 2 of the Health Care Innovation Awards program focuses on four priority areas: bringing down costs for Medicare and Medicaid patients; bettering care for specialized needs populations; testing improved financial and clinical models for specific types of providers, including specialists; and linking clinical care delivery to preventive and population health. The 12 prospective recipients will test models in all four categories and spanning 13 states.

 

In 2012, HHS awarded 107 healthcare organizations nearly $900 million in Round 1 of the Health Care Innovation Awards. 

 

"These efforts will strengthen federal, state and local partnerships, encourage broad stakeholder engagement, and capitalize on federal resources to ensure greater transformation of delivery of healthcare services,” said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, in a May 22 press release. 

 

The 12 organizations are: 

 

Some of the projects include:

 

[See also: HHS gives innovation awards to 26 organizations.]

 

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Estimated funding amount: $9.6 million

The project will test Mobile Acute Care Team Services, which will utilize the expertise of multiple providers and services already in existence in most parts of the U.S. but will transform their roles to address acute care needs in an outpatient setting. MACT is based on the hospital-at-home model, which has proven successful in a variety of settings. MACT will treat patients requiring hospital admission for selected conditions at home. The core MACT team will involve physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, social work, community paramedics, care coaches, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, and home health aides.The core MACT team will provide essential ancillary services such as community-based radiology, lab services (including point of care testing), nursing services, durable medical equipment, pharmacy and infusion services, telemedicine, and interdisciplinary post-acute care services for 30 days after admission. After 30 days, the team will ensure a safe transition back to community providers and provide referrals to appropriate services.

 

The Regents of the University of Michigan 

Estimated Funding Amount: $6.4 million

The project will implement the Michigan Surgical and Health Optimization Program, which focuses on real-time risk stratification and peri-operative optimization for patients undergoing abdominal surgery. The model aims to improve surgical outcomes in two ways. (1) Real-time risk stratification aims to improve the appropriateness of surgery -- in certain high-risk cases, patients and surgeons will avoid prohibitively high-risk surgical care, focusing on medical and palliative management. Further, real-time risk stratification can identify patients who would be good candidates for the peri-operative prehabilitation program. (2) This peri-operative program aims to enable patients to train for surgery, improving their physiology and mindset through an established outpatient program, leading to better outcomes and reduced costs by preventing complications and reducing length of stay. Over the three-year period MSHOP will be implemented in 40 Michigan hospitals.

 

HHS officials also announced Thursday some $730 million available as part of the State Innovation Model project to help states design and test improvements to their public and private healthcare payment and delivery systems.