Hartford managed care provider Aetna Inc.’s philanthropic arm is dispensing $250,000 to study, analyze, and help restructure health care services provided by America’s safety-net hospitals.
The grant, provided by the Aetna Foundation, was awarded to the National Public Health and Hospital Institute (NPHHI), Â which is the research affiliate of the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (NAPH).
The one-year study will analyze best practices in integrated health care to try to help America’s safety-net hospitals and health systems restructure their services to provide more efficient patient-centered care that improves health outcomes and moderates costs.
To evaluate safety-net hospitals the survey will explore things including care coordination practices, operational effectiveness, focus on patients, families and community health, and effective leadership and culture.
In addition to achieving a baseline assessment, researchers will inventory specific, critical gaps hindering safety-net hospitals from full integration and develop strategies for addressing those gaps.
The results of the NPHHI study are expected in Dec. 2012.
