OSF HealthCare announced today it has received a $50,000 grant from Telligen Community Initiative (TCI), a private, Iowa-based charitable foundation. These funds are supporting a redesign of Mobile Integrated Health in Streator.
The vision is for the redesigned Mobile Integrated Health to be an innovative and evolving model of community-based health care designed to provide more effective and efficient services to patients at a lower cost. This new model allows paramedics and first responders to function outside their traditional emergency and transport roles and facilitates more appropriate use of emergency care resources while enhancing access to primary care for medically underserved populations. The redesigned model will also connect individuals to community resources to help meet social needs that impact their overall health and wellness.
“By serving our rural community in an innovative way, we have the opportunity to improve health literacy, medication compliance, and ensure safe living environments,” stated Ken Beutke, President of OSF HealthCare Saint Elizabeth Medical Center. “Our goal for redesigning Mobile Integrated Health is to reduce avoidable usage of community resources by connecting and leveraging the appropriate resources within the community to provide the right care, at the right time, in the right location, to meet the needs of our patients. We are grateful to be working with community based organizations to redesign the delivery model of rural healthcare and this is just one more example of how we are working to achieve better health in Streator – together.”
OSF HealthCare redesign of Mobile Integrated Health was one of only 20 grants selected for TCI’s 2018 Iowa and Illinois-based funding cycle, which awarded a total of $920,259 in grants to nonprofit organizations in these states ($456,674 to Illinois and $463,585 to Iowa).
“We are pleased to support the work of OSF Saint Elizabeth Medical Center and their launch of an innovative, new mobile integrated health plan to serve at-risk patients,” said Matt McGarvey, executive director of Telligen Community Initiative. “This care delivery model is designed to reduce health disparities, improve patient outcomes and transform the health of rural communities in north central Illinois.”
TCI works to support projects in the priority funding areas of health innovation, health care workforce development and access to care for the underserved. Since 2013, TCI has awarded more than $7.6 million to nearly 190 organizations in Iowa, Illinois, Oklahoma and Colorado.