Two Saratoga Hospital programs awarded grants
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Saratoga Hospital recently received $35,000 in grants from Mohawk Valley Medical Associates and MVP Healthcare to support innovative efforts to manage opioid use and help patients transition from hospital to home.
The grants were among the first awarded under MVMA’s new Program Excellence & Innovation initiative. Launched this year, the initiative recognizes programs that go above and beyond to address the needs of a specific population. The awards included:
$25,000 for Saratoga Hospital’s Interdisciplinary Opioid Management Program, which integrates pain management clinical pharmacists and a substance abuse counselor in primary care practices to help monitor, manage and reduce the use of opioids for chronic pain relief.
$10,000 for the hospital’s Inpatient Transition Program, which seeks to improve outcomes and reduce readmissions by helping patients with chronic or high-risk conditions arrange timely followup services after a hospital stay.
“These programs focus on patients who, with a little extra support, could see significant improvement in their health and day-to- day lives,” said Dr. Richard Falivena, vice president and chief medical and physician integration officer at Saratoga Hospital.
Although the programs are fairly new, early results are promising. During the first year of the Interdisciplinary Opioid Management Program, more than half the patients involved were gradually tapered off opioids entirely. Others were able to reduce the medication required to stabilize their pain.
Patients who received followup services through the Saratoga Hospital Inpatient Transition
Program reported feeling less stress after an Emergency Department visit or hospital stay. In addition, they were less likely to be readmitted to the hospital than patients not in the program.
“The grants will enable us to extend both programs at a time when they are needed more than ever,”
Falivena said. “We are extremely grateful for MVMA and MVPHealthcare’s leadership in encouraging innovation and supplying this extra support to healthcare providers and our patients.”