Project #2:      Healthy Lifestyles

Project Type:   Access
Lead Agency:  Mississippi Valley State University
Partner Agencies: University of Mississippi Medical Center Diabetes and Metabolism Center (DMC), Delta Health Center, National Center for Excellence in Women’s Health
Principal Investigator: Eunice Bray

• Aims to enhance the health and wellness of Delta residents in rural communities
• Provides services and educational programs on chronic disease preventions and self-management, prenatal care, and diabetes self-management
• Expansion of a community-based screening program

The purpose of this project is to continue to enhance the health and wellness of residents of the Mississippi Delta in rural areas by bringing services and educational programs on chronic disease prevention, chronic disease self-management, and prenatal health directly to them at places of work, study, or worship. This project will expand a community-based screening program, establish the effective faith-based wellness program in new churches as Wellness Centers, and continue to expand services by assisting in the deployment of a successful diabetes patient self-management education program for the Delta.

Project #3:      Rural Tele-Emergency/ Tele-Stroke Project

Project Type: Access
Lead Agency:  Mississippi Hospital Association
Principle Investigator: Mendal Kemp

• Implementation of new services in the existing network to improve timely treatment of stroke victims
• Provides critical stroke care in participating rural hospitals
• Connects rural hospitals in the Delta with a neurologist at UMMC

This program utilizes an existing telemedicine network that was developed for trauma care to address the devastating epidemic of stroke facing the Delta. The Mississippi Hospital Association will partner with UMMC to provide critical stroke care at participating rural hospitals. Outcomes will include improved access to care to stroke patients, timely delivery of stroke-busting medications that prevent brain damage, and overall reduction of disability associated with stroke. The community impact of this program will be access to life changing medical care that would otherwise be unobtainable in isolated, rural communities.

Project #5:      Electronic Health Records

Project Type:   Access
Lead Agency:  University of Mississippi Medical Center
Principal Investigator: Karen Fox, PhD, Chuck Fitch

• Implementation of electronic medical records
• Ensures safety, quality of care, and fiscal efficiency
• Reduction in medical errors and increase access to care

The purpose of the Electronic Health Records (EHR) project is to establish a regionally linked electronic health record system that can unite information technologies from various platforms to provide secure health information at the point of patient care. This project has been extremely successful, going live with clinical information services in eight locations and providing training to over 100 clinicians. This represents a regional effort to unite the health information systems of different providers and improve access to health records for patients and authorized providers. The impact of this large-scale collaborative effort will be improved patient safety, reduction in medication errors, better coordination of care, improved work flows, reduced time to process patients, reduction in costs or increases in revenues, and reduction in billing errors.

Project #25:    Enhancing our Community Health Centers Through the Medical Home Model

Project Type:   Access
Lead Agency:  Mississippi Primary Care Association
Principal Investigator:  Robert Pugh

• Provides financial and programmatic support to community health centers and hospitals within the Delta region
• Develops collaborative relationships and service delivery models
• Reduces non-urgent ED use and increase use of community health centers as medical homes

This project will provide financial and programmatic support to community health centers (CHC) and hospitals within the Mississippi Delta region to develop collaborative relationships and service delivery models. This project aims to: (1) assess organizational readiness among potential CHC/Hospital collaborators; (2) assess the patient characteristics and ED/CHC utilization in local communities; (3) initiate and provide expanded services to CHC patients; and (4) analyze patient utilization of EDs and CHCs to determine cost effectiveness and reduction of non-urgent ED use. Anticipated outcomes will be changes in the number/percentage of patients that utilized CHCs as regular sources of care/ medical homes as a result of the expansion of services, a reduction in non-urgent ED visits, overall increase in CHC utilization, improvements in infrastructure and workflow and improvements in the management of patients’ disease and records. The community impact will be healthier communities that have access to consistent managed care for the sick and preventive healthcare visits.

Project #26:    Health Literacy- Imagination Library and MIHOW

Project Type:   Access / Education
Lead Agency:  Mississippi Valley State University
Principal Investigator:  Brooks Ann Gaston

• Utilizes student readers and provide books to students
• Aimed at young families with infants and small children
• Provids new parents with information and training needed to navigate their local healthcare systems

The Health Literacy program represents a collaboration between MVSU and the DHA to target one of the most critical needs in the Delta- children’s health and wellness. The project aims to (1) expand DHA’s Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker program to improve access to appropriate health services for low-income families with young children and (2) expand the Imagination Library program to foster reading to young children. The project expects to have 2,000 children enrolled by the end of the 2008 grant cycle with 100 families participating in MIHOW services. The community impact will be a significant increase in children entering school with the literacy skills needed for future development, and more families of young children that are linked to appropriate services and programs that foster early development.

Project #29:    Delta Pharmacy Patient Care Management Services

Project Type:   Access
Lead Agency:  University of Mississippi
Principal Investigator:   Leigh Ann Ross

• Increases accessibility to Patient Care Management services provided by pharmacists
• Improves medication use and health outcomes in the Medicaid population of targeted areas
• Utilization of electronic health records to improve the safety and adherence to pharmaceutical therapy

This effort builds upon a successful program that utilizes rural pharmacists to assist in medication management of Medicaid beneficiaries through: (1) coordinating medication use and health outcomes for persons in the Medicaid population; (2) utilizing Electronic Health Records supported by telemedicine to improve safety and adherence to pharmaceutical therapy and (3) evaluating the efficiency of Pharmacy Patient Care Management Services on medication adherence and disease management. The community impact will be a reduction in medication errors and improved clinical and economic outcomes for Medicaid beneficiaries in Delta communities.

Project #30:    VISICU
Project Type:   Access
Lead Agency:  University of Mississippi Medical Center
Principal Investigator:  Dr. G. Douglas Campbell, Jr.

• Improves the quality of critical care delivery and access to care for Delta residents
• Establishes a eICU® Center at the University of MS Health Care
• Provides remote monitoring services for critical care patients at critical access hospitals in the Delta
• Increases access to care, satisfaction, and cost savings

The University of Mississippi Medical Center has partnered with several hospitals in the Mississippi Delta to improve the quality of critical care delivery and access to care for residents of the Delta through an innovative ICU program. The project will (1) establish an eICU® Center at University of Mississippi Health Care for its four critical care units; (2) provide remote monitoring services for critical care patients at the Delta Regional Medical Center; (3) provide remote monitoring services for critical care patients at four rural critical access hospitals within the Mississippi Delta; and (4) demonstrate better patient outcomes, increased access to care, provide satisfaction, and cost savings through utilization of VISICU.  The community impact will be improved outcomes for intensive care patients and the ability for rural hospitals to retain more patients, providing specialized care closer to the patient’s home town.

Project #31:    Meeting Food and Nutrition Needs of Students in the School Setting

Project Type:   Access
Lead Agency:  University of Mississippi
Principal Investigator:  Charlotte B. Oakley, Kathy Knight

• Addresses the need for preparing a school nutrition program that provides safe and appropriate school meals
• Fulfills special food and nutrition needs of students
• Assists in managing special food and nutrition needs beyond the school setting

The purpose of the project is to prepare school nutrition programs in the Delta to meet the nutritional requirements of special needs children in rural school systems. Children with developmental delays often have special dietary requirements stemming from their disabilities or resulting from a lack of adequate nutrition at home. The impact of this program will be that students with special dietary needs will be appropriately cared for and will learn how to take responsibility of their own health and nutrition, when possible.

Project #36:    Telepsychiatry in the Delta

Project Type:   Access
Lead Agency:  University of Mississippi Medical Center
Principal Investigator:   Dr. Grayson Norquist

• Reduces disparities in mental health treatment in the rural MS Delta
• Improves the quality of mental healthcare services delivered at local community mental health centers in the Delta

The Mental Health Services Improvement – Telepsychiatry in the Delta project was developed to address two critical needs in the Delta: 1) to reduce disparities in mental health treatment for those living in the rural Mississippi Delta region and 2) to improve the quality of services delivered to those seeking mental healthcare at local community mental health centers in the Delta.  The program will link isolated communities to mental health service providers for access to psychiatric services via live two-way telemedicine connections. The community impact will be to improve the mental health of some of the most underserved populations in the U.S.

Project #38:    Delta Health Rural Scholars Program

Project Type:   Access
Lead Agency:  University of Mississippi Medical Center
Principal Investigator:  Jessica Bailey

• Provides permanent healthcare educational environments in the Delta
• Focuses on training and recruiting primary care providers

The Delta Health Scholars Program will aim to provide permanent healthcare educational environments in the Mississippi Delta to be incorporated into the curricula of the Department of Medicine for medical student (M4) and resident education. This program will focus on training and recruiting primary care providers to practice in the designated Delta counties.

Project #40:      21st Century Model for Chronic Disease Care

Project Type:   Access
Lead Agency:  Delta Health Alliance
Principal Investigator: Jane Calhoun

• Utilizes the patient centered medical home model (PCMH)
• Creates primary care teams in rural clinics
• Addresses needs of patients with chronic disease, including diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease

This project utilizes an evidence-based patient centered medical home model (PCMH) that creates primary care teams in rural clinics that can meet the many needs of patients with chronic disease, including diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. This model will be piloted in three clinics serving the poor living with diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Outcomes include increased access to appropriate care, improved blood pressure and other clinical measures, reduced cost of care, reduction in absenteeism and improved quality of life. The community impact will be a reduction in morbidity and mortality as well as a stronger economy from less lost time at work and reduced medical cost.

Project #41:   The Mississippi Delta Children's Oral Health Project

• Increases the use of evidence-based oral disease prevention services among moderate to high-risk children (and their parents and/or primary caregivers) who attend child care centers in Coahoma County
• Plans the use of effective oral health communication strategies (i.e., framing of messages) that are culturally sensitive, educationally appropriate for underserved and economically-challenged child populations and their caregivers.
• Improves access to oral disease prevention and treatment services for children and their caregivers by indentifying policies and promoting programs to encourage cost-effective dental care delivery systems in the Mississippi Delta.

Project #42:    The Delta Promise Community Project

• Enhances early childhood development; development of charter schools and redesigned curriculums
• Development of community centers for after school, weekends and summers
• Increases access to primary care and dental services; increase access to prenatal care and family planning services
• Increases adult literacy and job training
• Development of college assistance programs
  

TEAM Sugar Free

Project Type:   Access
Lead Agency:  Delta Health Alliance
Principal Investigator:  Karen Fox, PhD
Funding Source:  Office of Human Research Protection (OHRP), Health Resources & Services Administration

The TEAM Sugar Free project focuses on providing diabetic screening and services to targeted areas in the MS Delta. Its goals are to:

• Establishes new diabetes medical services in four health department clinics in the Delta
• Provides community based education and clinician training
• Employs an Innovation Project interfacing EHR and retinal imaging between the University of Tennessee Hamilton Eye Institute and the University of Mississippi Medical Center