News and Announcements

Aug. 1, 2022- CHCF award improves health record for serious illness

Awards from CHCF improve health record capabilities for serious illness care

The California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) is dedicated to advancing meaningful, measurable improvements in the way the healthcare delivery system provides care to Californians, especially people with low income and those whose needs are not well served by the status quo. CHCF has supported the Institute for Human Caring through three grant awards since 2020.

These awards have made it possible for the Institute to work with public hospitals in California to better understand how to ensure their Electronic Health Records (EHRs) help them provide the best care possible. Through CHCF’s generous support, the Institute has identified ways these safety-net health systems can make it easier for all clinicians caring for people with serious illness to ask about, document, and access patients’ goals of care while also reliably monitoring and addressing pain and other quality-of-life issues.

The improvements leverage the capabilities of EHRs to ensure the care and treatment people with serious illness receive is consistent with their goals and needs. With improved electronic workflows, clinicians can spend more time focusing on the needs and goals of their patients which, in turn, can also help lessen clinician burnout.

For more information about the California Health Care Foundation, please visit www.chcf.org.

To learn more about the Institute’s work in partnership with CHCF, email humancaring@providence.org

Aug. 26, 2022- COPIC kickstarts project with Oregon POLST Registry

COPIC kickstarts 1-year project with Oregon POLST Registry

August 26, 2022

Founded in 1991, the COPIC Medical Foundation supports organizations and initiatives that improve healthcare outcomes, patient safety and quality of care. In 2022, COPIC Medical Foundation awarded the Institute a grant to build an improved interface to the Oregon POLST (Portable Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment) Registry. As healthcare delivery grows increasingly complex, this system will allow clinicians to increase coordination and make it possible for systems statewide to access a patient’s most up-to-date wishes for treatment during a medical emergency. The one-year project is led by Dr. Matthew Gonzales and Dr. Deborah Unger of the Institute, in partnership with Dr. Abby Dotson of the Oregon POLST Registry. The improvements have the potential to impact health systems and thousands of patients across the state.

The COPIC Medical Foundation is focused on reducing fragmentation across care settings. Breakdowns in care from a fragmented healthcare system can lead to readmissions, missed diagnoses, medication errors, delayed treatment, duplicative testing and procedures, and reduction in quality of care leading to general patient and provider dissatisfaction.

For more information about the COPIC Medical Foundation, please visit copicfoundation.org

If you’re interested in joining COPIC Medical Foundation by contributing to this work, please contact Lindsey Oldridge, Philanthropy Officer, at lindsey.oldridge@providence.org or (509) 331-5978.