Health Care Innovation Awards: Palliative Care Consultants of Santa Barbara Project Profile

Project Title: "Physicians quick response service"
Geographic Reach: California
Funding Amount: $4,254,615
Estimated 3-Year Savings: $3,229,481

Summary

Palliative Care Consultants of Santa Barbara received an award to provide health care services to the frail elderly in times of crisis. The name of their program is "DASH," Doctors Assisting Seniors at Home. The intervention will create new options for frail elderly to access rapid assessment and treatment in their homes through a Rapid Response Team (RRT) dispatched to the homes of seniors who have fallen ill. This approach will reduce delays in care for the frail elderly and create lower exposure to hospitalization-related risks. Specially trained first responders will arrive within one hour to initiate the in-home assessment and triage process. The focus of this initiative is to provide active treatment to frail elderly patients in their home. The goal is to reduce emergency room visits and avoidable hospital admissions, increase patient satisfaction, and provide better, more immediate care through a system that is patient-centered and timely. Over a three-year period, Palliative Care Consultants of Santa Barbara's program will train an estimated 32 workers and create an estimated 20 jobs. New workers will include physicians, first responders, a project manager, enrollment specialists, and an administrative assistant/communication specialist.

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