East Central Reporter

Thanks to a three-year, $565,942 grant from the Office of Rural Health Policy -- bolstered by federal support -- patients of Illinois’ Sarah Bush Lincoln facilities with heart and COPD conditions may be hospitalized less often.

Sarah Bush Lincoln (SBL) is boosting the grant by another $23,279 in an overall effort to keep between 40 and 60 residents clear of hospital admissions for conditions that can be managed on an outpatient basis.

“We are terribly excited about this opportunity,” Carol Ray, a registered nurse who directs SBL’s care coordination, said. “By caring for this select group of people, who typically experience unplanned hospitalizations, we hope to learn from the process and apply the principles to other locations and to people with other illnesses.” 

The grant, supported in part by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), is intended to track several dozen heart and COPD patients with the hope that enrolled patients will demonstrate improvement in several measurable areas.

Stemming from previous case management models, the endeavor’s success may depend on how motivated participants are to make changes in their lifestyles for optimum health outcomes. By practicing motivational interviewing, staff will also improve their own skill sets for potential win-win results.

“Helping patients determine and share their priorities can increase their motivation to make healthy changes,” Ray said. “The point of motivational interviewing is … to engage patients as active partners in their care. People have different triggers and we need to uncover those to help them achieve their health goals.”