This is a monumental step forward for EMS, not only for the size of the awards ($1 billion!), but also the scope of who can be awarded funding and for what cause. This opportunity puts us on par with other partners in the healthcare chain. Given our ability to engage with the community, there is real opportunity to affect the community’s health at a grass roots level. The deadline to submit your letter of intent is December 19. While the timeline is short, it would be very worthwhile for EMS organizations to apply. -- Art Hsieh, EMS1 Editorial Advisor
By EMS1 Staff
Think you’ve got an innovative idea that could help change EMS and emergency care for the better?
Well, now you’ve got a chance to put it to the test — and potentially win some big money for your agency in the process.
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation is launching their Health Care Innovation Challenge, which will award up to $1 billion in grants to applicants who implement their ideas for delivering better healthcare and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP.
Applicants can submit a wide range of ideas, Margolis said. Projects should do the following:
- Engage a broad set of innovation partners to identify and test new care delivery and payment models
- Identify new models of workforce development and deployment and related training and education that support new models
- Support innovators who can rapidly deploy care improvement models (within six months after award) through new ventures or expansion of existing efforts.
Project winners have the potential for raking in serious money. Awards will range from $1 million to $30 million for a three-year period. Payers, providers, local government, public-private partnerships and multi-payer collaboratives can apply.
“This is an amazing opportunity for us,” said Kris Kaull, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at EMS1. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to greatly change the landscape of out-of-hospital medicine. Imagine being given a blank canvas; how would you provide medical care to our nation? Dream it. Get people together. Submit your ideas. Creativity coupled with execution is now a possible option with a funding stream.”
Letters of intent are due December 19, 2011; applications are due January 27, 2012.