Other Initiatives
Project Connect
Project Connect is a community-based case management program targeting uninsured and publicly insured adults with a high number of visits to hospital emergency departments (EDs) in Santa Cruz County. The project operates as a collaboration between HIP, Dominican Hospital, Watsonville Community Hospital, Central Coast Alliance for Health, and the County Health Services Agency through its Homeless Persons' Health Project. Project Connect uses case management intervention to reach out to and engage each frequent user, to get to the root of what's causing the frequent ED visits, and to use all available resources to relocate care and services in more appropriate, cost-effective settings. Project successes include a 41 percent reduction in annual hospital emergency department visits; a 54 percent reduction in hospital inpatient days; a 33 percent reduction in ambulance transports and a 39 percent reduction in annual number of county jail days. Click here for more information.
Regional Diabetes Collaborative
Regional Diabetes Collaborative (RDC) The mission of the RDC is to support, promote, and coordinate efforts to prevent and manage diabetes in Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey Counties. HIP participates in the RDC and helps support the Annual Diabetes Forum which seeks to engage local providers and health educators, as well as raise awareness about the issue with policymakers. Click here for more information.
Hospitalist Project
Hospitalist Project: A longstanding HIP initiative is developing hospitalists programs to coordinate medical care for safety net patients when they are hospitalized in one of three area hospitals. In 2008 HIP took the next step, working to improve the transition from hospital to safety net clinics by linking patients to safety net clinics at hospital admission, making follow-up clinic appointments before discharge, and sending discharge summaries to safety net providers. After six months of collaborative work, the staff at Dominican Hospital cut the number of safety net patients who do not have a primary care provider in half. The goals of the project are to improve coordination of care, reduce hospital readmissions, and improve the patient experience.
