Health Care Innovation Awards Round Two: Yale University Project Profile

Project Title: "Paramedic Referrals for Increased Independence and Decreased Disability in the Elderly (PRIDE)"
Geographic Reach: Connecticut
Estimated Funding Amount: $7,159,977

Summary: 

Yale University will test a model targeting elders and others with impaired mobility who contact 9-1-1 for falls or lift assists but choose to remain at home. Emergency Medical Services providers are trained to perform enhanced evaluations during the initial 9-1-1 call. Paramedics are trained to make follow-up visits to perform detailed risk assessments, home medication reviews, and referrals to primary care doctors and skilled home services. The expanded paramedic workforce with advanced training is a community-based resource that will improve care coordination and health outcomes for elders staying in their homes. Pilot studies have shown that similar interventions decrease repeat ambulance transports, reduce inpatient hospitalizations, and lower health care costs. Because lift assist patients share many risk factors, such as advanced age, cognitive and physical disability, limited mobility, social isolation, and polypharmacy, with patients who fall, the program's community interventions are modeled after evidence based fall prevention strategies.

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