Grants intended to improve health and quality of life for Kentuckians
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Dec. 16, 2014) – The Passport Grants Program announced it has awarded more than $440,000 in 2014 (and nearly $1.9 million in funding since 2007).
Passport Health Plan gives back to Kentucky communities by giving funds to organizations around the state that are helping people improve their health and quality of life.
“We believe that it’s wise to invest in the communities in which we provide services, especially related to programs that help our members with health and wellness,” said Mark B. Carter, CEO of Passport Health Plan. “To do that, we set aside funding each year for the research and development of programs that improve quality and access while controlling the cost of care to those who receive Medicaid benefits.”
The program awarded grants in two different kinds of dispersals this year: through General Grant Requests, for non-research-based initiatives, and through the Improved Health Outcomes Program (iHOP) for research-based initiatives.
Under the General Grant Requests category, Passport awarded a total of $172,550 to five organizations in 2014:
• Healthy Hoops Kentucky: A special initiative that uses basketball and fun to focus on the needs of kids with asthma in the Greater Louisville area. (healthyhoopsky.com)
• GoNoodle: An online resource for elementary school teachers to improve student engagement and youth health through physical activity breaks, or “brain breaks.” Passport has two GoNoodle initiatives currently in place under this grant: one in Floyd, Johnson, Magoffin, and Martin counties of Eastern Kentucky and one in Daviess County in Western Kentucky. (gonoodle.com)
• Harrison County School-Based Health Promotion Center: A school-based initiative to support teenagers in Northeastern Kentucky who are at risk for emotional as well as physical illness and accidents; primarily, the program works to prevent teen pregnancy and suicide.
• Kentucky Pubic Health Leadership Institute: A team development program for community-based partners around Kentucky involved in improving the health of their communities (mc.uky.edu/kphli)
• Kentucky Cancer Program: Created by legislation enacted in 1982, KCP was established to reduce cancer incidence and mortality around Kentucky through education, research, and service. (kycancerprogram.org)
Under the iHOP category, four programs received funding in 2014 that totaled $272,266. They are:
1. The Food Pantry Preventative Medical Home Without Walls (“Despensa de alimentos y hogar de assistencia médica preventive”) – The focus of this project is to enhance the Aposento Alto food pantry in Shelby County to help Spanish-speaking members get health and diet information. (For more information about this program, contact Anna C. Faul at (502) 852-1981 or [email protected].)
2. Accountable Care Teams – The focus of this project is to identify appropriate and inappropriate prescribing practices and solutions for improving the care of children who have mental health needs.
3. The Bridges to Home Program (Navigating high-risk in-client clients using a lay-health worker model in Eastern Kentucky) – The focus of this project is to reduce 30-day readmission rates using a lay-health worker model and to identify and assist in addressing the psychosocial and health determinants of high-risk clients before, during, and after the time of hospital discharge.
4. Improving Care through Pre-Visit Planning and Pro-Active Office Encounters – The focus of this project is to utilize evidence-based guidelines to conduct pre-visit planning and proactive office encounters to address preventive health measures for patients in rural Kentucky.
The iHOP program, which runs on an annual cycle, is for one-time research projects that can be completed in one year with quantifiable outcomes.
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