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Winchester Hospital Physician Group Recognized with Grant from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
Winchester, Mass. — The Highland Healthcare Associates Independent Physicians Association (IPA) of Winchester is one of 14 provider groups throughout Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire that has been awarded a 2009 Quality Grant from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care to improve clinical quality and patient safety. The Highland Healthcare Associates IPA, a not-for-profit physician organization with 350 physician members, is affiliated with Winchester Hospital.
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care’s 10th annual Quality Grants Program funds physician group initiatives that help local physician practices explore innovative strategies and programs to improve the quality and efficiency of patient care.
The Highland Healthcare Associates IPA will use this grant to fund “Weigh the Options: Choosing the Path to a Healthy Childhood,” a comprehensive program to help prevent and reduce childhood obesity. The Highland Healthcare Associates IPA and Winchester Hospital’s Community Health Institute will collaborate with physicians who treat pediatric patients to achieve the goals of this grant-supported program. Program components include nutritional support and counseling, exercise classes and family education.
This is the seventh grant awarded to the Highland Healthcare Associates IPA since the inception of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care’s Quality Grants Program. Previous grants have been used to fund projects such as Comprehensive Diabetes Care, Anticoagulation Management and Promotion of Electronic Prescribing for the IPA physicians.
“We are thrilled to once again have the support of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care in funding this most recent quality grant, which will allow us to develop and implement a comprehensive program to impact childhood obesity. Our hope is that any success will eventually impact adult obesity, one of the major challenges facing our healthcare system today,” said Dr. Don Druga, medical director of Highland Healthcare Associates IPA.
“Harvard Pilgrim is proud to enter its 10th year of the Quality Grants Program with another strong round of projects that will improve the way health care is delivered at practices throughout New England,” said Dr. Roberta Herman, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care’s chief medical officer and senior vice president. “The grants we are funding this year will focus on increasing preventive care, ensuring medication safety, coordinating patient care and managing chronic diseases. Many of the projects will be supported by the use of health information technology such as electronic medical records, which enables safer, more efficient care.”
About Winchester Hospital
Winchester Hospital is the first community hospital in Massachusetts to earn Magnet recognition, the American Nurses Association’s highest honor for nursing excellence. As the northwest suburban Boston area’s leading provider of comprehensive health care services, the 229-bed facility provides care in general, bariatric and vascular surgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, cardiology, pulmonary medicine, oncology, gastroenterology, rehabilitation, radiation oncology, pain management, obstetrics/gynecology and a Level IIB Special Care Nursery. Winchester Hospital has clinical affiliations with several nationally recognized hospitals in the region, including Children’s Hospital Boston, Tufts Medical Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. To learn more, visit www.winchesterhospital.org. |
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