BMC receives grant from Cardinal Health Foundation to help improve effectiveness of patient care

The Cardinal Health Foundation announced it has awarded Virginia R. Litle, MD, a Thoracic Surgeon at Boston Medical Center (BMC) grant funding from the E3 Grant Program to implement best practices and help improve the effectiveness, efficiency and excellence of patient care.

The funding will be used to study the efficacy of a Caprini Risk Assessment Model to reduce venothromboembolic (VTE) complications after thoracic surgery and to implement an efficient and low-cost anticoagulation compliance protocol after patient discharge. This is an initiative within the thoracic surgery division at BMC to reduce the incidence of post-operative VTE events across the continuum of care in an at-risk population. VTE is among the most common preventable and potentially fatal postoperative complications in all surgical patients. Litle also is Associate Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM). Surgical resident Krista Hachey, MD, and BUSM student Philip Hewes will be part-time research assistants.

The Cardinal Health E3 Grant Program awarded funding to health care providers in 22 states. Since the inception of the E3 Grant Program, the Cardinal Health Foundation has awarded more than $7 million in funding to 249 hospitals, health systems or other health-related organizations across the country.

This year's E3 Grant Program called for proposals that addressed one of three areas: projects that will improve medication safety, particularly as patients move from hospital environments to the home and other health care settings; projects that, in partnership with the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), improve operating room safety and test a protocol for assessing risk and implementing changes in the operating room to reduce pressure ulcers during surgery; or projects that result in the implementation of best practices in the care of babies born addicted to opiates.

After six years of providing support to health care providers, we are so pleased to continue offering these grants to organizations that are working to implement best practices and improve the effectiveness, excellence and efficiency of patient care," said Dianne Radigan, vice president of Community Relations. "Cardinal Health has a vested interest in helping health care providers save days, dollars and lives by working collaboratively to improve the quality of care nationwide. We congratulate Boston Medical Center for their work to achieve meaningful, long-term improvements."