(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - People with chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, depression or arthritis can sometimes feel their health is out of control. A team at PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center, with resources from the State of Alaska Department of Health and Human Services, is sponsoring a free, 6-week Living Well Alaska workshop designed to help anyone with an ongoing health condition.

The program, created by Stanford University, is based on the latest research and has helped thousands of people throughout the United States live happier and healthier lives. Participants learn how to better manage diet and exercise, fatigue, medications and other issues that come with their disease.

Living Well Alaska workshops are being offered across the state and the PeaceHealth Innovation Team will be leading workshops in both Ketchikan and Craig. In Ketchikan, the workshop begins Thursday, September 11, from 2:30-5:00 p.m. In Craig, the workshop begins Tuesday, September 30, from 2:30- 5:00 p.m. Those who wish to participate can register online (http://www.peacehealth.org/4yourhealth) or by calling Michele Cornwall at 228-8140 who can also answer questions about the classes. While the class is free, space is limited so early registration is encouraged.

As part of the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) Innovation Grant program, the PeaceHealth Innovation team is focusing on coordinating care for people with chronic illness and educating patients and the community about paths to better health. By offering a variety of disease management services and hands-on wellness support to individuals in our community, they are making a difference one person at a time.

The purpose of the grant is to find innovative ways to approach health care to maximize patient benefits and minimize costs. In the first year of the program, the Innovation Team made significant strides in keeping patients with chronic diseases out of the hospital - reducing the number of readmissions by 65% and saving patients and insurers more than $1.5 million. Today, their commitment to patients continues to shine as they develop new ways to improve patient health through multifaceted care coordination.

Recently, CMS Grant Manager Matt Eisenhower, PeaceHealth Ketchikan CAO Ken Tonjes and Michele Budd, the Regional Vice President for Ambulatory Services were invited to attend a meeting with CMS leadership in Baltimore in October. The invitation from Lindsay Wilde, the Program Director responsible for the PeaceHealth Ketchikan Innovation Grant, read, “In an effort to highlight the tremendous work your team has done and it’s accomplishments to date I’ve scheduled a meeting with...the leadership of all the CMS operating divisions to present your program.”

PeaceHealth Ketchikan was the only Medical Center in the state of Alaska to receive a CMS Innovation grant. The very competitive award was given to just over 100 medical facilities in the country from over 3,000 applications. The purpose of the grant is to find innovative ways to approach health care to maximize patient benefits and minimize costs.

On the Web:

Register online for the Ketchikan or Craig workshops http://www.peacehealth.org/4yourhealth

Information on the program in Ketchikan and Craig
http://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/Health-Care-Innovation-Awards/Alaska.html

Edited by Mary Kauffman

Source of News: 

PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center
www.peacehealth.org/ketchikan

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Ketchikan, Alaska

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