Washington, DC – Rhode Island’s congressional delegation today applauded a new $3.2 million federal Health Care Innovation grant being awarded to Women & Infants Hospital in Rhode Island from the Affordable Care Act. This funding will allow Women & Infants to expand its services and improve care for women who have preterm infants.
“This is another example of how health reform is helping Rhode Islanders and saving taxpayers over the long-term. We congratulate Women & Infants Hospital for providing high-quality, essential health services for women. This federal aid will support their efforts to develop cost-effective solutions to critical health care challenges and help some of the most vulnerable children and families in Rhode Island,” said U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Representatives Jim Langevin and David Cicilline.
With funding from the Innovation grant, the Women & Infants Hospital will expand its highly successful Transition Home Plus program. This program helps at-risk pre-term infants transition from the hospital to their homes, which will improve infant health and reduce the risk of rehospitalization while lowering the cost of care. Over the three-year period, Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island’s program is expected to save approximately $3.7 million. It will also train an estimated 120 health care workers, while creating an estimated 13 new jobs.
The funding was made available through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s (CMS) Health Care Innovation Awards program, established by the Affordable Care Act. Twenty-six recipients were chosen from over 3,000 applications nationwide in the first batch of funding awards designed to support innovative projects that will help organizations deliver high quality medical care, enhance the health care workforce, and cut unnecessary costs.
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