UC Grants to Medical Centers Expected To Generate 5-to-1 Return

About $7.3 million in grants awarded by the University of California's Center for Health Quality and Innovation are expected to generate about $40 million in net financial gain in 2016, according to a UC report, Health Data Management reports.

CHQI aims to improve patient care and satisfaction at UC's five medical centers (Goth, Health Data Management, 10/14).

Details of Grants

CHQI has awarded 50 grants totaling $15 million, including $7.3 million in UC medical center funding.

The grants range from one to four years and aim to provide funding to single or multi-campus projects (UC report, 8/27).

Savings, Revenue Findings

Some of the programs that produced a net financial gain include:

• A five-campus program to reduce blood clots, which saved $1.45 million annually;
• A specialty pharmaceutical program, which helped to develop contracts that led to $18,000 in revenue at UC-Davis and $1.36 million in revenue at UC-San Francisco;
• A UC-Irvine project to reduce the length of stay for patients who underwent high-risk abdominal surgeries, which resulted in reduced complications and saved $816,000 annually;
• A UCLA program that increased the efficiency of the elective surgery discharge process, which netted more than $800,000 per month;
• A UC-San Diego project to reduce the length of stay for patients who underwent colorectal operations, which saved $553,000 annually; and
• A UCSF palliative care program, which saved $167,000 annually.

In addition, seven initiatives have received a total of $16 million in external funding based on work completed using CHQI funding.

Meanwhile, 16 journal articles have been published based on work funded by CHQI (Health Data Management, 10/14).